Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

It is really pleasing to be able to tell the Senate that the economic outlook is improving. Just last week the Reserve Bank confirmed that the economic recovery in Australia is well underway. They upgraded their forecast around Australian economic growth and our labour market. Pleasingly, 450,000 jobs have been created in the last four months, with more than half of the record number of jobs lost having already now been recovered. The RBA expects that further easing in the domestic activity around restrictions, particularly in Victoria, is going to see a boost to employment over the coming months. The ANZ Australian Job Advertisements rose 9.4 per cent in October following an 8.3 per cent increase in September. We've now regained more than three-quarters of the fall that we saw between March and April. The ABS data is also showing significant growth and improvement in job vacancies being reported. Consumer confidence is up—