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

We've always been very conscious of the reality that responding to COVID-19 has been about saving both lives and livelihoods, and, despite the many difficulties and uncertainties that Australia and the rest of the world have faced, we've continued to outperform the rest of the world in terms of saving the lives of Australians and in terms of saving the jobs of Australians, the businesses of Australians and the fundamentals that will enable Australia to come out of this pandemic more strongly than so many other nations who have been much more badly affected.

Prior to the recent challenges of additional lockdowns across the country, we saw unemployment having dipped below five per cent to 4.9 per cent—a comeback, in terms of unemployment, far exceeding expectations, with the strong jobs growth putting Australia in a position of seeing employment at levels in excess of those pre pandemic. Our economic responses have helped to achieve these outcomes, and we continue to deliver record support to families, households and businesses to get them through this. (Time expired)