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

Senator Siewert, I won't repeat the answers I've given to your first two questions, but I would say that the government has stood with Australians who found themselves unemployed over the last 12 months by providing a coronavirus supplement in recognition of the conditions in the jobs market at the time. Clearly, when we first went into the pandemic, the $550 supplement recognised the fact that the jobs market closed down overnight. But, now, as we are seeing the economy starting to open and the jobs market starting to improve, we're very keen to make sure that our initiatives that we have in the marketplace are helping people to get back into work and are helping jobs to be created through the programs that have been put in place, like the JobTrainer program with Senator Cash and the working hiring credits that have been put in place for young Australians. Because the most essential thing that we can do to help people who are unemployed is to create jobs and help business to create jobs, and to make sure they've got pathways to those jobs.