Senators raised a variety of issues on the Order of Business. Senator Davitt made a number of comments about the squeezed middle, with which I agree. Certainly, when canvassing during the general election campaign, I met a huge number of people who are feeling very squeezed by cuts that have been made over recent years. However, ours is a recovering economy and a job is the best way to deal with the inequality the Senator mentioned. Unemployment has decreased from 15% to 8% under this Government. There is still work to be done and I accept the Senator's comments, but since the previous Government took office huge strides have been made.

Senator Freeman raised-----