Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on how the Morrison government is ensuring the Australian economy is stronger and more prepared to deal with the challenges of 2021?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Higgins, my electorate neighbour and friend, for that question and note her deep experience before coming to this place as a paediatrician, as a professor and as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. She, like others on this side of the House, understands that 2021 will be quite different to 2020. That was a year like none other. We were staring into the abyss of a double-digit fall in economic growth and potentially a tripling of the unemployment rate. Through the hard work of our health professionals on the front line and 25 million Australians, we have been able to get this virus under control. With the incredible and unprecedented economic support from the Morrison government, the economic recovery is now well underway.

I can inform the House that today consumer confidence is up again—up 16 out of the last 20 weeks. I can inform the House that today the ABS put out payroll jobs data which shows that jobs are up in every state and territory for the fortnight. I can inform the House that yesterday job ads were up 5.3 per cent over the year. We have seen the unemployment rate fall to 6.6 per cent, with 50,000 jobs having been created in the month of December, more than 70 per cent of which were full time, and 320,000 jobs having been created over the last three months.

I take the interjections from those opposite, because we have been working to create 320,000 jobs, and they have been—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. We have enough interjections without the Treasurer inventing them. The Treasurer will come back to the answer.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have spent the summer working to help create 320,000 jobs—

An honourable member interjecting—

I do take that intervention, because they have spent their summer trying to save just one job—the member for Grayndler's job.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will pause for a second. This was a very specific question—from your own side—that made no mention of the opposition.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have seen 320,000 jobs being created over the last three months, and what we have seen across the country is around two million Australians graduate off JobKeeper. I had the opportunity to join the member for Higgins in her own electorate to meet a homewares business which saw seven people graduate off JobKeeper. This is something that we have seen replicated across the country. So jobs are coming back, consumer confidence and business confidence are back to their pre-pandemic levels, we have seen economic growth in the September quarter have its biggest quarterly jump since 1976, and we know that this country is on track with respect to the economic recovery.