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

On the question of the impact of the government’s measures, I would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would have equated performance in the retail sector with jobs. I know that might be a novel concept for the Leader of the Opposition. With collapsing sales, as has been the case in America, Britain and elsewhere in the retail sector, the huge impact is on employment in those economies and that is already being seen. What we have done is taken action in that sector in order to support the retail community, as reflected by so many of the peak bodies from across that sector and beyond. These are practical steps which have been taken by the government with one objective: to reduce the unemployment impact, which would otherwise flow from the global economic recession. Again, I go back to the alternative: you can have a Nation Building and Jobs Plan aimed at reducing the impact of the global recession on the Australian economy and on families or the Liberal alternative, which is to let the free market rip. We have a strategy; you have an excuse.

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