Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Birmingham for his question. I personally haven't seen those reports. But can I say—and I've said it many times this week—that it's the objective of the Albanese government to ensure that the sorts of issues that you've just referred to are dealt with in a competent, sensible and compassionate way so that this government puts downward pressure on all of those things that Australians are currently finding difficulty with. I've referred on so many occasions, Senator Birmingham, to the sorts of things that this government is doing.

Our first objective, of course, was to produce a $20 billion surplus, and, of course, that does have that downward pressure on interest rates. In addition to that, we've been providing a range of benefits to the Australian people to keep that downward pressure on—things like child care and things like rebates on your electricity. In the same process—again, I don't know if this particular article refers to it—of course, we have created 561,000 jobs in the time that we've been in government. All of those—