Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly want to add my voice to oppose the sentiments expressed in this matter of public interest brought forward by the new shadow Treasurer. What is clear is that what we have heard today simply reinforces something that I have thought for a long time—in fact, for a bit over 12 years—and that is that the coalition just do not get it. They do not get government and they do not understand what an important role government plays in developing and stimulating our economy. They wasted 12 years in government. They created a GST, they sold off the farm, particularly Telstra, and they also governed through one of the most significant revenue booms, the mining boom, that we have seen in this country and at no stage did they actually understand that that revenue was needed to invest in our economy and to build economic security for the future. They never, ever get the point that investment supports communities and builds an economy.

That is why this government has created this very specifically targeted stimulus package. It does a number of things. It supports jobs because it builds infrastructure for those things that we need to build our future sustainability and our communities. It is investing in education, building infrastructure in our schools, which will support jobs in those local communities now and will also provide the skilled workforce that we need for the future. It is building social housing, which again is supporting the very much needed stimulus within our construction industry right now and also providing necessary housing for those who are most vulnerable and those who are homeless in our community. And of course it is also supporting jobs in the insulation industry, which once again not only sees more jobs created in that industry but actually reduces energy consumption in this country and supports our future environmental sustainability.

This is the point that the opposition, when in government and now, have never, ever got. They wasted 12 years of opportunity. We know merchant bankers love the phrase ‘money makes money’. I would like to paraphrase that and argue also that jobs create jobs. What is important is: if you stimulate the economy and provide both very necessary spending and infrastructure packages that create more spending money for people in our community, you support not only those who need that cash injection but some very significant industries within our economy right now—that is, the retail sector and the accommodation and food services sector. We heard the leader of the Liberal-National Party in this place talk about the Queensland economy. Well, in the Queensland economy over 20 per cent of jobs are in the retail, food services and accommodation sectors. In my electorate of Bonner, over 16 per cent of jobs—in fact 11,043 jobs—are in those sectors.

You cannot tell me that by encouraging people to go out there and spend in those sectors we are not supporting jobs and stimulating the economy. In fact, we heard the shadow Treasurer, prior to his promotion, talking about staring into the eyes of children and asking them about future debt. I would like him to stare into the eyes of the 16-year-old kid who loses his casual job at Coles and cannot get a new cricket bat. I want him to tell the university student who can only eat because of their part-time job in a local restaurant that he does not care about that job. I would like him to tell all of those people in the Westfield shopping centres, the small business strips and the major shopping centres that their jobs are not worth it, that they actually do not care. It is usually women, young people and those most marginalised who work in those jobs and that is why the opposition do not care about that sector of the economy. It is very important. The opposition say, ‘Wait and see.’ They say it is a marathon. You cannot win a marathon when you are behind the pack. (Time expired)

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