Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

That was a fairly wide-ranging contribution by Senator Joyce, which I take it was a question. This government have delivered a strong economy that is delivering jobs for Australian families, 750,000 more jobs since it came to office. Australians understand that, if they have a job, they are much more secure, their family is more prosperous and they have a much better life. The No. 1 priority of this government has been to deliver jobs for Australians. As I say, we have had record job creation. We have very low unemployment compared to all comparable countries. As result, Australians are enjoying the benefits of a strong economy.

There are cost-of-living pressures in the economy that impact on families. That is obvious. But what we did through the global financial crisis was that we delivered a stimulus package that allowed Australians to stay in work. As a result of the economic stimulus, we saved probably 200,000 people from being cast into the unemployment queues. By building in every primary school in this country we not only invested hugely in the future education of our children but kept people in work—architects, planners, builders, chippies, plumbers, electricians. All sorts of people benefited from that economic stimulus. So we make no apology for taking strong action to stimulate the economy to protect the standard of living of Australians by keeping them in work. I am happy, if there is a supplementary question, to expand on the measures the government has taken to put Australia in a position where we are one of the strongest economies in the world and the Australian people are getting opportunities denied to thousands of others in countries like the US and the UK. (Time expired)