Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Yes, this is a government that has acted decisively to keep this nation in front as we confront the global financial crisis and its effects on our real economy. I know that, day to day, members of the Liberal Party equivocate about whether or not they support our $10.4 billion economic security statement. The Leader of the Opposition was equivocating on radio this morning. We put that money into the economic security statement because we wanted to ensure that we were doing everything we could to pro-tect Australian jobs. The estimates are that that statement and the economic activity that it is obviously going to prime are worth 75,000 jobs. What sectors are they in? We have obviously put money into the hands of families and pensioners so the economic activity will be reflected in the things that they buy and use, and we have directly put money into the residential construction sector through the first home owners grant and its ex-ten-sion to $21,000 for people who enter a contract for a newly-constructed home. On the COAG announcements on the weekend, once again it is more money into the economy, more money where it will make a difference in health services and in education.

See this speech in context