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

I thank Senator Abetz for his question. I know he's championed endlessly for the opportunities for job creation for Australians in Tasmania and right across our land. Indeed, as Australia continues to recover from the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, we can be buoyed by the continuing progress that is being made, particularly by the strength of consumer and business confidence. The NAB's measure of business confidence in February remained well above its long-run average level. All elements of Westpac's Consumer Sentiment Index have improved over the last year, and consumer confidence is up some 21.6 per cent over the year, close to a 10-year high. The latest OECD Economic Outlook suggests that the Australian economy declined by only 2½ per cent in 2020, a significant improvement on the IMF's October forecast and a vastly better outcome than, for example, the US, at a 3½ per cent decline, the euro area, at a 6½ per cent decline, or the UK, at effectively a 10 per cent decline.

In our recovery we were showing great strength through the final two quarters of last year and in the December quarter real GDP increased by 3.1 per cent, leading the OECD to upgrade its forecast for Australia's economic growth in 2021 to 4½ per cent, a significant lift from their forecast back in December. Australia is one of just nine countries to have a AAA credit rating from all three of the ratings agencies, and all of this strength in our recovery is translating most crucially into jobs. These jobs for Australians are seeing employment growth, unemployment decreasing to 6.4 per cent, 94 per cent of the jobs lost at the start of the pandemic having come back and more than half of the jobs created in the last eight months pleasingly going to women across Australia. (Time expired)