Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Birmingham. Yesterday the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr Lowe, confirmed that unemployment in Australia will remain high for at least the next two years, saying:

A further rise in the unemployment rate is still expected, … . The unemployment rate is forecast to decline next year, but only slowly and still to be around 6 per cent at the end of 2022

Why is the government congratulating itself on the economy when there are 2.4 million unemployed or underemployed Australians and the jobless queues are still growing?