Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

First, in relation to unemployment, I assume that the senator would acknowledge the relatively low unemployment we have in Australia. I would hope he would acknowledge that it is in great part due to the actions taken by this government, opposed by those opposite, to stave off a recession—action which was opposed by those opposite and which ensured that some 200,000 Australians who would have been on the dole queues are not but are in work. This government have created 730,000 jobs since we came to government, the effect of which can be seen by looking at where the American unemployment rate is and where ours is. We entered the global financial crisis with around the same rate of unemployment; we have exited this period with an unemployment rate with a five in front of it, as opposed to a nine. In relation to the impact, essentially I think the question comes down to the impact on jobs in—