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

Mr President, we see more of the same of what I was responding to on the first question. We see a coalition senator—generally Senator Sinodinos is a little better than this—suggesting that there is something dreadful with the employment figures in this country. The reality is, as he would know and these are figures from May, the OECD average unemployment is eight per cent, the US is at something over seven per cent, and the euro area is at an all-time high of just over 12 per cent, from memory.