Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

As I said in answer to Senator Scarr's first question, Australia's economic recovery is well underway. We only need to look at the recent labour force figures for January 2021, with the ABS jobs data showing that employment increased by over 29,000 that month, including an increase of 59,000 full-time jobs. That is, as I said, a direct result of the Morrison government's economic recovery plan, which has, as we know, provided unprecedented levels of support to Australian households and Australian businesses. As I said, we've seen over 800,000 jobs—that's around 93 per cent of the jobs lost during COVID-19—return to the economy. We're also seeing consumer confidence, business confidence and jobs ads grow to levels higher than before COVID-19. The best form of welfare is a job, and we will do everything, as a government, to get people into jobs, because that's where they belong.