Ken Ticehurst (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer outline to the House recent data on business, engineering and construction investment. What does this data indicate about Australia’s economic outlook? Are there any threats to these levels of activity?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Dobell for his question. The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released their Private new capital expenditure and expected expenditure publication. What it showed was that private capital expenditure rose 9.1 per cent in the quarter and is now 4.7 per cent higher over the year. What this is telling us is that capital expenditure in the Australian economy is very, very strong and is continuing to go in, and will drive future growth in the Australian economy. The Construction work done series showed that we are now at the highest level of construction work done since the series began in 1986. Engineering construction, in particular, which rose 10.9 per cent over the year, is now at the record high of $44.3 billion. Building work, which rose 7.5 per cent over the year, is now at $61.1 billion—the highest since that series began in September of 1976.

This strength in business investment, of course, is being matched by Commonwealth new investment in infrastructure. The Commonwealth has announced that it will build on its AusLink 1 program with $15.8 billion of investment, with a new AusLink 2 program of $22.3 billion of investment from 2009 for a five-year period. The Commonwealth also has, of course, its $10 billion plan in relation to water security, and in this year’s budget I announced the establishment of the Higher Education Endowment Fund, a fund which will grow in perpetuity to fund Australia’s first-class infrastructure in our universities. So what we are seeing in the Australian economy at the moment is a surge in investment which is building future capacity. That is good because most of the unused capacity in the Australian economy has been soaked up in recent years, with unemployment falling to 32-year lows.

It is very, very important when you come to invest in new plant and equipment or you come to invest in engineering construction or you come to invest in building and structures that you know, when you get on with your building or construction work, that you will be able to do that without fear of disruption, black ban or any other kind of threat to such investment. That is why the ABCC, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, has been so important for giving confidence to Australian builders. That standing commission has done more than any other institution to wipe out the tactics of fear and blackmail on commercial building sites and it has given investors a lot of confidence to go out and engage in all of this new investment.

I know the Australian Labor Party opposed the establishment of the ABCC right up until yesterday, when it announced a reprieve. The ABCC is still under threat of execution but there has been a stay of execution until 2010. So the Labor Party’s view apparently now is that it will be needed but it will not be needed for very long, because it will be executed in 2010. For the life of me, I cannot understand the logic of this position. If the ABCC is necessary, why wouldn’t you leave it in place for good? Why wouldn’t you have the ABCC there to clean up the kind of thuggery on commercial construction sites which is exemplified by Dean Mighell of the ETU? It has been very interesting listening to the pathetic attempts from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and others on radio in Melbourne to try and explain why poor old Dean got expelled from the Labor Party yesterday. They cannot say that threatening builders led to his expulsion, because the moment you said that threatening builders led to an expulsion you would have a mass exodus from the ALP. You would have to expel all of them. So, apparently, Dean got expelled for bad language. That was Dean’s offence: bad language got him expelled from the Labor Party.

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr McGauran interjecting

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which Kevin’s bad language?

Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kevin Reynolds.

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thought you were talking about the bad language of another Kevin for a moment. He was apparently expelled for bad language. Dean should have been expelled, there is no doubt about that, and Dean should have been expelled for his tactics of intimidation on building sites. That is what Dean Mighell is responsible for and he is not the only one. The CFMEU have made this a habit on commercial building sites and, if the Australian Labor Party wanted to do something about stopping intimidation on building sites throughout the whole of Australia, they would take a stand against intimidation, they would make it clear and they would expel all of those union leaders that have engaged in it.