Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question because it goes to the heart of how this nation responds to a global financial crisis, which is becoming a global economic crisis and, in turn, a global employment crisis. As I have said to the House before and will say again, there are two strategic choices for the national leadership of Australia: either to take a concrete course of action to seek to reduce the impact of this global recession on Australians—who did not cause this crisis—or to simply sit on the fence and carp. Those represent the alternatives for the leadership of the nation. The Labor government has decided on a course of action. Those opposite have decided to remain firmly sitting on the fence carping because they have concluded that it is to their political advantage so to do.

In relation to the content of the package that we have put forward, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Education and I today went out and visited a school: St Gregory’s parish school in Queanbeyan. It is one of 7,400 primary schools in Australia—Catholic, independent and government—right across the country, where this government has resolved to invest, together with the secondary school program and maintenance programs, nearly $15 billion. When I was at St Gregory’s this morning, they outlined to me how they were currently in the business of building a new library resource centre. It is costing them $1½ million through the renovation of a building that has been there since the 1960s. They pointed out to me at that school that they have demountables in which the kids are still studying, and for a school of 600 kids they have actually no assembly hall—none whatsoever. When I spoke to the principal—

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