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

I have to say I was not aware of the tweet, but thank you very much for sharing that with us. I am aware that Australia's unemployment rate is indeed lower than that of many other advanced economies. Certainly, if you look to the economies of Europe, if you look to the eurozone, if you look to the United States, you will see economies with far higher unemployment rates than Australia.

I find it passing strange that the coalition is so anxious to talk down good employment outcomes for Australians, because those good employment outcomes ought not to be political. We all ought to be cheering the creation of jobs in this country, because it is a good thing for the people who send us here. Whilst there are many things that this government has done which I think have contributed to a better Australia, one of the first amongst those is the creation of jobs. No amount of negativity and carping and constant heckling from Senator Brandis—I do not need a blue tie, Senator, to know you are a pompous git; I really do not.