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

I thank Senator Henderson for that question. She is a strong champion of small businesses across Australia and is, I know, deeply concerned to ensure the security of employment opportunities for all Australians.

Against a backdrop of enormous global uncertainty—the first global pandemic in 100 years and, indeed, the greatest economic shock to the world since the Great Depression—our government has sought at every juncture to ensure the economic security of Australia, and Australians, and its economic recovery from the shock of COVID-19. Our budgets handed down last year and this year framed the direction for our economic recovery plans, to make sure that we kept as many Australian businesses as strong as possible, that we kept as many Australians in work as possible and that we continued to grow employment opportunities wherever possible.

In the face of these enormous global uncertainties it is pleasing to see the strength across the Australian economy. Australia's economy today is now larger than it was going into the pandemic. This is a feat that no other major advanced economy has achieved to date—to have recovered their economy to a bigger size than it was pre-pandemic. Over the last three quarters we've seen some growth of 8.7 per cent—the strongest growth in Australia in more than half a century. And today we have seen the dividend that that creates for Australian workers, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.1 per cent in May. There are now fewer unemployed persons in Australia than there were prior to the pandemic. We have seen jobs growth of 115,000 people for the month—well above expectations—demonstrating that across Australia the economic recovery is going strongly and creating opportunities for Australians.