Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Minister for Families and Social Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (14:00): I thank Senator McCarthy for her question. What I can confirm, Senator McCarthy, is that when the pandemic first hit we did see that women were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic when it came to job losses. What I can also tell Senator McCarthy is that prior to the pandemic we did have a disproportionate number of older Australians and also older women who were represented on social security payments. This was probably a result of many things, including many measures that had been put in place prior to the pandemic and many measures that have been put in place over a number of years, not the least of which was the increase in the number of young people who were coming off unemployment and going into work. It could also be the fact that we had changes to our pension arrangements, like the wife pension, and these changes had taken place over quite a long period of time and under successive governments. As a result of the fact that we had started to see probably a disproportionate number of older Australians on unemployment benefits or on welfare, the government has taken a number of initiatives to support older people who find themselves unemployed. Senator WONG: Point of order: it was a very succinct and specific question which asked the minister to confirm the numbers of women without work and on JobSeeker and youth allowance. They were the only words and subject points raised, so I would ask the minister, who has been speaking for in excess of a minute—and I understand she has taken time to get to the answer—if she could confirm the numbers in Senator McCarthy's question. The PRESIDENT: It was a very specific and factual question. I've said when in the chair that, when such specific and factual questions are asked, the directly relevant test is quite a narrow one. Senator Wong, you have reminded the minister of the question and I do so as well. Senator Ruston will continue. Senator RUSTON: I will get the exact statistics for Senator McCarthy because, as you could imagine, we are seeing the unemployment figures moving around quite significantly at the moment. I will certainly make sure that I get the absolute and specific statistics provided to you. I can give statistics that are old, but I would like to make sure that I give you statistics that are current post pandemic. As you would be aware, statistics pre pandemic probably don't mean a great deal. As I was about to inform Senator McCarthy, there have be a significant number of measures that have been put in place in recognition that we have a high number of older Australians who find themselves out of work. The PRESIDENT: Senator McCarthy, a supplementary question?