Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Birmingham. Can the minister please update the Senate on how the Morrison-McCormack government's economic and health response to COVID-19 is supporting Australia's employment and economic recovery?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKenzie for her question and I note her concern for Australians right across this country—city and metro and regional—in terms of their health and economic wellbeing through what has been a most remarkable year around the world. Australia continues to perform better than most other countries in terms of saving the lives of Australians and saving the jobs of Australians. It's been an incredibly tough year for many people across Australia and an even tougher one for many people across the rest of the world.

Yesterday's national accounts show that, in Australia, real GDP increased by 3.3 per cent, the largest quarterly increase since 1976. Of course, that came off the back of a significant decline in the previous quarter. However, when you look around the world, the decline Australia faced was less than most of the rest of the world and the recovery is stronger than most of the rest of the world.

These are the defining factors. It is ongoing work. It is going to be a long road back from here to recovery for all countries around the world. But over the past five months we've seen 650,000 jobs created, 344,00 of those filled by women and 226,000 filled by young Australians. We welcome this incredibly important progress in getting Australians back to work and the decline in the effective unemployment rate from 14.9 per cent to 7.4 per cent. Our economic recovery plan, outlined in the budget this year—with programs to enable businesses that were previously profitable to have loss carry backs, our investment deductions, the bringing forward of tax cuts and plans around HomeBuilder—are all about the next stages of recovery over the months and years ahead, to keep getting more Australians back into the workforce and to drive those numbers to where they were in the past. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, a supplementary question?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for that comprehensive answer, Minister. How has the government's record economic support through the COVID-19 pandemic protected Australians' livelihoods and kept Australians connected to jobs?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, $257 billion in economic support from the government—$130 billion of it already flowing into the pockets of households and businesses—has been crucial to maintaining business capability, keeping businesses afloat and therefore keeping as many Australians in jobs as possible. This includes supports like JobKeeper, the JobSeeker supplement, the cashflow boost to businesses and the two $750 payments to millions of pensioners and others who are on income support.

These have all been crucial supports that have kept almost 3.8 million Australians connected to their employer. The Reserve Bank has estimated that at least 700,000 Australian jobs have been saved that potentially would have been lost without these types of programs in place. Our Supporting Apprenticeships and Trainees wage subsidy has helped over 57,000 small and medium businesses, again, to save around 100,000 apprentices and trainees and to keep them in jobs, which has been crucial—saving jobs throughout this year. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKenzie, a final supplementary question?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Australia enters a new phase of our COVID-19 recovery, how will our Liberal-Nationals government support Australians back into work and back into training, and empower local communities, including in regional areas, to deliver tailored responses to our communities?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So many of our programs have been providing support right across the economy and across the country, but our local jobs program is putting boots on the ground across 25 regions by providing particular, focused support for employment and funding local jobs plans in collaboration with local stakeholders, employers and training organisations to help make sure the jobs growth in those sectors and regions is as strong as the growth we are trying to drive across the whole country.

Our JobMaker hiring credit provides benefits right across the country, supporting 450,000 young Australians back into work. Our Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy will help support the training of a new generation of 100,000 apprentices and trainees across Australia, but especially in regional and rural Australia, giving these apprentices and young Australians maximum opportunity to get a job in regional areas and to stay in those regions to contribute to their growth and opportunity, and, ultimately, to generate even more jobs into the future. (Time expired)