Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The advice that the Secretary of the Treasury has given to parliamentary committees is that he expects the jobs recovery and the economic recovery in Australia to continue. What we have seen during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic is very clearly that the measures our government took saved jobs. JobKeeper, by various estimates, has saved some 700,000 jobs. What we have seen in relation to the 1.3 million Australians who lost their jobs or went to zero hours at the height of the pandemic is that 93 per cent of those jobs have come back. And what we anticipate—and, indeed, this is the advice from the Treasury and from the Reserve Bank—is that we should continue to expect to see that jobs recovery. That doesn't mean that, as we have said consistently from the start of the pandemic, every job and every business will be able to be saved—not every one will be able to be saved.

Senator Watt interjecting—

These are quite infantile comments coming from some, such as Senator Watt opposite, to be quite frank.

These are difficult, challenging issues, but what we have sought to do is put in place measures to protect the Australian economy, to protect the capacity in the Australian economy. It has saved hundreds of thousands of jobs along the way, and in net terms we are seeing new jobs being created so far each and every month. However, yes, there are some jobs that are being lost, but more are being created as a result of the measures that the government is putting in place. Post March there will continue to be enormous stimulus and activity across the Australian economy as a result of the different policy measures that our government continues to put in place.