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

It's ahead of the US. It's ahead of the UK. It's ahead of Canada and much of Europe or Japan. Labor themselves—I hear lots of interjections—held jobs up as being the big test for the government in terms of how we managed the crisis. That's what Mr Chalmers said and what nearly everybody else over there said. We have delivered in spades. Unemployment is headed to a 50-year low—at four per cent, headed to 3.75 per cent—creating opportunities to get young Australians into skilled, secure jobs. During the pandemic, we invested some $13 billion in skills and training. The results speak for themselves. A record 220,000 Australians are now in trade apprenticeships, the highest number since records began, and last night laid the foundations for even more young Australians to get an opportunity in an apprenticeship and in training. (Time expired)