Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have just had an MPI where the opposition criticised the government for allegedly failing to manage the economy to prevent job losses, and here they are opposing legislation that will support jobs. The Treasury—and I believe the Treasury rather than the Leader of the Opposition—says that without action of this nature a combination of weak demand and tight credit conditions could see up to 50,000 people in the commercial property sector lose their jobs, with flow-on effects to other parts of the economy. This legislation, the Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009 and cognate bill, is a necessary measure to support confidence in the commercial property sector. It is necessary in the circumstances where employment is threatened by the withdrawal of a foreign bank affected by the global financial crisis. It creates a special-purpose vehicle, just as we did with the car industry, to support jobs and investment. It is done with the support of private capital invested by banks who are participants. Overseas we have seen governments doing this sort of thing but without the support of private banks.

Does the Leader of the Opposition seriously think that the government is engaging in criminal cartel type behaviour? That is what he alluded to. I do not seriously believe he is making that allegation. Perhaps he had his tongue in his cheek. But we are doing this with the consent, approbation and approval of the Australian banking sector and with its cooperation. It is a temporary measure, as we have said, in specific circumstances to support the economy and to assist liquidity in the commercial property sector. Those people who work in the commercial property sector are electricians, carpenters, small business people and independent contractors, and they need this sort of support.

To support jobs we are establishing a $4 billion Australian Business Investment Partnership, ABIP. It is a temporary contingency measure to support commercial property assets, those projects such as shopping centres, office towers and factories under construction as well as existing properties of that nature. We know that the commercial property sector employs about 150,000 people in Australia. It is a big employer of people: tradesmen, carpenters, plumbers, those people managing property, electricians and other people who work in the industry. This is the real face of Australian humanity—small business operators, workers and their families in the sector. What we are doing is supporting that sector, and those opposite are saying: ‘We will wait and see. We will do nothing about this.’ They have opposed the stimulus package, and this is part of their opposition. We are supporting local jobs. We are not sitting back idly waiting for the world; we are doing things that will support the sector.

There are safeguards which will ensure that the banks will continue to finance projects. We have said that. We think that foreign banks play an important role in our economy and in the banking sector and we support that. We are the ones who internationalised the economy and brought foreign banks into this country. Those opposite in their stifled Hansonite delusions of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were the ones who opposed opening up the economy and internationalising the economy. We are supportive of the contribution that foreign banks make to ensure that constrained construction in the commercial sector remains viable in all the circumstances.

As I listened to the Leader of the Opposition go on about this legislation, I wondered whether he had actually looked at it. He talked about lack of oversight and lack of a regulatory framework. But, if you have a look at what ABIP’s operation is going to be like, it consists of a board with expertise and it has a requirement for all resolutions of the ABIP board to be unanimous, with the exception of enforcement resolutions. Even then it requires an 80 per cent majority of the board, provided that the government is a member of the majority. There is a requirement that any major bank continue its participation in terms of its loan facilities. There is a requirement that the Auditor-General audit the financial statements of the company and subsidiaries and the auditing must be done consistently with the Corporations Act 2001. Further, there is a requirement for the Treasurer to table the company’s financial report, directors’ reports and audit reports each financial year in each house of parliament as soon as practicable after receipt. According to the Leader of the Opposition, there is no oversight, no regulation. It is carte blanche, if you listen to what he says. But that is not true. In fact, what we are doing is creating an organisation, a bank in which all the participants have ‘skin in the game’, as the Treasurer eloquently said. It is true: all the major banking companies are in the game. They are participating in supporting the Australian economy. The only ones not supporting the Australian economy are those who sit opposite, who are opposing this particular reform.

We know that the commercial property sector supports what we are doing in this regard. We are initially financing ABIP to the tune of $4 billion, with the government’s contribution at $2 billion. We know it is being matched by a half-billion dollar contribution by each of the four major banks and extending also the capacity in terms of borrowing of up to $30 billion by a government guaranteed debt of $26 billion to create the $30 billion fund. We know that the global credit situation is going to be tight. We know that so many of our trading partners are in recession. We also know that China’s economy has contracted for the first time in about seven years. We know that the Japanese economy has gone back by 4.6 per cent in the last year. We have seen the dole queues in America; we have seen unemployment to the tune of about 651,000 a month rising in the United States of America. We know that the global financial crisis is going to wash across our shores.

We have seen in my electorate, which contains Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley and the old Boonah shire, a rise in unemployment. For example, we have seen in Ipswich about 3,000 people unemployed but we have seen an increase of 400 people, in terms of Centrelink entitlements, being unemployed in the last month. This is the real face of the global financial crisis affecting my electorate and, I am sure, the electorates of all members of this House. So it is very important that we ensure the continued finance which will enable shopping centres and property developments to continue, because this sort of thing is very important for our economy. It is also very important where I come from in South-East Queensland, where there are big property developments in places like Springfield and also proposed at Walloon and Ripley Valley. We have big shopping centres which have grown in the last 10 years at Riverlink and Brassel. We have seen big developments. Ipswich’s population is growing in such a way that we need a new classroom every week to educate the children in the Ipswich area, which is covered by the electorates of Blair and Oxley.

It is important that we get commercial property supported by a banking system that ensures that there is not weak demand and that there are not tight credit conditions which might impact upon the commercial property sector. I am really supportive of this reform. I think it is a reform. I think there is oversight in relation to the matter. The reform is supported by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens. Master Builders Australia support it. Ian Harper, of Access Economics—someone whom those opposite have used in the past for advice and for appointment—has also talked about how important this type of operation to support commercial property is in all the circumstances. The Property Council of Australia also support what we are doing here.

But once again the coalition opt out of the game, take off the boots, take off the uniform and say: ‘We’re not playing. We’re not going to participate in any bipartisan approach to address the global financial crisis. We’re not going to be part of the game.’ We have seen it on Work Choices, alcopops and the ETS; we are seeing it here on ABIP. The coalition are abdicating their responsibilities to the property sector. Once again, those people opposite, who champion business, are letting down business.

This legislation is important in all the circumstances. It is important for the commercial property sector. It is important for my electorate, in South-East Queensland. It is important for the people of Ipswich and the rural areas outside it. It will sustain economic development. It will sustain employment and jobs. Therefore it will help Australian families in this very difficult time. It is a shame that those opposite are coming up with silly arguments to oppose this, when all the stakeholders—those people who are interested, like the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Property Council of Australia and Master Builders Australia—support what we are doing in this regard. I think the coalition should listen to those sectors, to those people who really are in the game. I urge those opposite to put the boots back on, put the uniform back on and actually participate in the great debate in this regard.

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