Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:33): I thank Senator Singh for her question. Last week the national accounts were released. These were further confirmation of the underlying resilience of the Australian economy. They showed that the Australian economy grew by 1.2 per cent in the June quarter. Across Australia, people were pleased to see that the Australian economy had grown and that we are continuing to see economic growth—with some small exceptions, of course: those opposite. Clearly, the only people in Australia who were not happy to see that the Australian economy grew in the last quarter were the opposition. All they have been wanting to do is talk down the economy and try to create uncertainty and fear with a whole range of assertions which are simply incorrect. So we did not see Mr Hockey coming out and saying how wonderful it is that the economy is growing at this time. We did not see an opposition that was very pleased to that the economy is growing because of what that means for jobs and for certainty. Senator Abetz: And what happened to the unemployment rate? Senator WONG: What we continue to see is the opposition trying to talk down the economy, as Senator Abetz is doing now. He wants to talk about unemployment. I am very happy to talk about unemployment. I am very happy to talk about the fact that there are 140,000 more Australians in jobs now than there were a year ago. Let us remember that we have had a year of those opposite talking down the economy, making a whole range of false assertions and running a fear campaign, and we have continued to grow. (Time expired)