Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Abetz, the leader of the Liberal Senate team in Tasmania, for that question. At the end of the Labor-Green minority government, both here in Canberra and in Hobart for that matter, Tasmania was in an economic recession, unable to pay for essential services, including schools and hospitals. Of course, one of the culprits is sitting over there. However, through the hard work of our government, working closely with the highly effective Hodgman Liberal government in Tasmania, things are starting to turn around, and this is not the time to change direction. May I congratulate the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team, a great bunch, for their hard work in service to Tasmania. I hope we will continue to work together—of course, we will continue to work together—to deliver for Tasmanians.

Thanks to the policies of our government in Canberra and the Liberal government in Hobart, the Tasmanian economy has surged ahead, with the unemployment rate falling from 8.1 per cent when Bill Shorten was employment minister to 6.1 per cent today. This means that there are now more than 16,700 additional Tasmanians in work, providing them, their families and the Tasmanian community at large with more opportunities to get ahead. Instead of congratulating the Hodgman government, here is the Labor Party—negativity, negativity, negativity. Business conditions are better in Tasmania today than in any other state—plus 24 index points.

But it is not just Tasmania that is benefiting from the coalition government's policies to encourage jobs and growth. Last year, of course, as Senator Cash was telling us again yesterday, more than 400,000 jobs were created across Australia, with three-quarters of those being full-time jobs. Nationally, the business conditions index jumped by six points to a strong plus 19 index points, well above the long-term average of plus five index points. Job advertisements in Australia increased 6.2 per cent in January to end up 13.8 per cent higher over the past year. (Time expired)