Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Since the Senate last met there have been a range of what I would describe as generally positive views about the Australian economy, and it is generally true that Australia is a leading performer amongst major advanced economies. Despite the worst global recession in 75 years, we are weathering the storm better than most other countries. We have the fastest growth, we have the lowest debt, we have the lowest deficit and we have the second lowest unemployment rate of all advanced economies, and Australia is the only one of 30 economies that has not gone into recession.

If we look today at the National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey and economic outlook, it shows that business confidence is at its highest level since August 2007, when the financial crisis, then the economic crisis, started to hit the world. The Dun and Bradstreet survey of business expectations also released today paints a positive picture, with all the expectation indices in positive territory. Sales and profit expectations in this survey have recorded their biggest one-quarter increase since the survey began in 1998. I think one of the most pleasing aspects of the effect of the government’s stimulus packages is that unemployment in Australia remains amongst the lowest in the world. The July figures released last week showed employment increased by 32,200 persons, with unemployment rates steady at 5.8 per cent. Contrast that to 9.4 per cent in the US, 8.6 per cent in Canada, and 7.6 per cent in the UK.

However, the effects of the global recession are still being felt in Australia and will continue to be felt for some time. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, and unemployment is forecast to grow— (Time expired)