David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not by advertising, by knocking on people’s doors. The member for Kooyong can come into my electorate at any time and join me as I go around shouting from every hilltop in my electorate and knocking on every door I can, disseminating this important message.

I note that when the Leader of the Opposition handed down his budget-in-reply speech he did not even mention ‘global economic recession’ in the entire speech. The reference to the global economic recession just could not be found in that speech. A lot has been said on the other side about the Treasurer’s omission in relation to the deficit. Let us put this in context: this global economic recession is the most serious economic downturn that we have faced since the Great Depression.

Let us not engage in hyperbole; let us look at the facts—let us look at global growth. This is the first time that global growth has contracted in annual terms in 60 years. These are unprecedented circumstances. There has been an 11 per cent drop in world trade. In addition to that, eight of our 10 most significant trading partners will be in recession and, of course, China and India are experiencing very rapid declines in growth—of course coming off a base that would warrant some growth in any event.

These are very serious economic circumstances and that is why the government has acted decisively and with such strength. We hear about the cash splash; we hear about the measures that have been taken to this point; we hear about modelling of all sorts. Let us look at the Treasury modelling. I have to say that the Treasury modelling in relation to the jobs that have been supported has not been contradicted. If there is an economist out there who is willing to put their name towards a piece of work that contradicts this, then let them come forward. But, to this point, the Treasury modelling clearly says that 200,000 jobs have been supported by the stimulus measures.

The alternative to acting decisively and with the strength that the government showed would be to abandon those 200,000 workers. When it comes to the issue of debt, a number of members of the opposition have said that they support the infrastructure spending—especially when it is in their electorates, I must say. There is much photographic and other evidence to that effect. They support infrastructure investment when it suits them, but they did not vote for it, and they now attribute the debt and deficit to that spending without acknowledging that revenue has been written down as a result of the global recession and the fall in commodity prices to the tune of $210 billion in four years. That means that one out of every five dollars of Commonwealth revenue has just evaporated, not because of anything the Rudd government has done but because of the global downturn and the fall in commodity prices. If you are managing your household budget and for every five dollars you lose one dollar of income due to a factor beyond your control, it makes it quite challenging to manage your budget. Sometimes you might even have to go into deficit. You might have to carry some short-term temporary debt. That is what we intend to do.

The important thing is to see what we are doing. We are acknowledging and absorbing the impact of that write-down in revenue, but we are investing in the sort of nation building that will set our country up for prosperity in the future. We need to make sure that we are ready to make the most of the recovery when it starts to kick in. It will kick in sooner in this country than in other countries because of the action that we have taken. We have been affected less than other countries because of the action that we have taken. That does not mean that we will not suffer adverse consequences, but in the end history will judge us on our actions and will judge the opposition on their calls for inaction. This is a good budget. It is a budget that supports jobs today and delivers the investment in infrastructure that our nation requires into the future.

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