Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

and I suspect that many won't. We know, from the Labor Party's competent management of the economy after the global financial crisis where we brought in legislation such as that before the chamber right now, the importance of not pulling back on support too soon—and, Deputy Speaker, that was my longwinded approach to that point. Australia came out of that crisis well.

The American economy did not fare so well during the global financial crisis. They initially spent huge sums of money to rescue their ailing banks and stimulate their economy. That worked well. But, as soon as they thought the economy was starting to turn around, they pulled back spending—in particular, spending aimed at supporting the poor and the unemployed. That turned out to be a disaster for the United States. Their growth slowed and it led to deeper structural problems in their economy that persist today.

We do not want to follow that example. We know how to implement economic recovery, and it's not to pull back support too soon. And that is what I fear the coalition government is doing. JobKeeper will stop in just a couple of weeks. There is nothing that will replace that support for those who still need it, and there are many Australians who still need that support. This bill will do nothing to support Australian consumers through this COVID recession, and I cannot support this bill.

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