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

I thank the member for North Sydney for his question. He is right to point to data out today from Dun & Bradstreet; from Sensis, on small and medium business enterprises; and the ANZ job ads survey. All of these point to the bad economic data on the jobs front and on the confidence front, and this is a reflection of the international economic circumstances in which we find ourselves. Also, I draw the honourable member’s attention to the report referred to earlier by the Treasurer—that is, the report released over the weekend by the World Bank. The World Bank report said that the global GDP this year will decline for the first time since World War II. The World Bank went on to say that world trade is likely to register its largest decline in 80 years. This will be the first time that there has been an annual decline in world trade since 1982. Furthermore, the World Bank predicts that developing countries will face a financing gap of between $270 billion and $700 billion as a result of the crisis, which now engulfs the developing world as well. Also, I draw the honourable member’s attention to the data which was produced over the last several days in the United States. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics announced that 651,000 Americans lost their jobs in February and US unemployment climbed to a 25-year high of 8.1 per cent.

These are the global circumstances within which Australia currently operates, and these are difficult times for all governments. The alternatives presenting themselves to governments around the world are stark and clear: either you sit and do nothing and allow people to fend for themselves—which is, at its essence, what those opposite recommend—or you take action. This government has a plan of action. We will provide stability to the Australian financial sector, for the first time in Australia’s history providing a guarantee for bank deposits for Australian deposit holders. Secondly, we will provide short-term stimulus measures to provide necessary payments to support pensioners, carers, veterans, farmers and others in order to provide support to the retail sector in particular—and the statistics for December and January have just been referred to by the Treasurer. We will also provide payments to first home buyers. The honourable member asked a question about what actions the government have taken which have resulted in impacts on employment. One of the specific measures announced last October as part of that economic strategy, which the Liberal Party supported at the time, was the trebling of the first home buyers bonus.

Could I draw the honourable member’s attention to the following figures. New Treasury figures, recently released, show that nearly 30,000 Australians received the government’s first home owners boost in its first 3½ months of operation—10,000-plus in New South Wales, nearly 6,000 in Victoria, 6½ thousand in Queensland, nearly 3,000 in Western Australia and 2,400 in South Australia. Is the shadow Treasurer saying he wishes those payments had not been made to those first home buyers? That is the absolute logic of his position because he, through his leader, supported those measures last year.

I refer the shadow Treasurer to the following statements. In Sydney’s south-west, the Cornish Group sold 70 per cent of its 53 sales at the Spring Farm estate in Camden to first home buyers. Chris Lamont, from the Housing Industry Association, said were it not for the first home owner boost, a lot more people in the building industry would be out of work. Furthermore, Michael Cant, of the Commonwealth Bank, said: ‘We’ve had to put on more staff and we’ve been looking to increase staffing levels through temps and contractors to deal with the bank’s response to the extra applications which have come in from first home buyers.’ Furthermore, if you look at the ABS figures for the period in question, you will see that the number of first home buyers increased by 17.8 per cent, pushing their share of loans to 23.6 per cent—the highest since January 2002. The number of new houses purchased by first home buyers jumped by almost 10 per cent.

The shadow Treasurer asked the question: where is the evidence that the measures taken last October have had effect? I have demonstrated—through figures from the ABS and through statements by responsible bank representatives and by corporate leaders—what that effect has been. It is quite plain that those opposite, when confronted with the global economic crisis that we are dealing with, have this as their response: the government is embarked upon an economic strategy to see Australia through the crisis; the Liberal Party is embarked upon a political strategy to take advantage from the crisis. That is the difference.

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