Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House the reasons why our economy is outperforming other advanced economies and what challenges lie ahead?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question because I think it is a tribute to the Australian people that yesterday’s national accounts figures show that our economy has outperformed other advanced economies, recording positive growth in the face of this very savage global recession—the worst global recession in 75 years, which has seen virtually every other advanced economy fall into a deep recession. Of course, this was evident yet again overnight, where the Euro area contracted by a massive 2.5 per cent in the March quarter. This comes on top of big contractions elsewhere around the globe—four per cent in Japan, 1.9 per cent in the UK and 1.5 per cent in the US. So, at a time when virtually every other major advanced economy is going backwards, Australia is going forwards.

This is a strong outcome for Australia that is a result of strong community effort and the government’s economic stimulus. It is absolutely clear that the government’s economic stimulus is working to support jobs and growth in our economy. It really shows what Australians can do when we all work together—when we pull together.

We got a fair few examples today of the business community, for example, pointing to the vital impact and social and economic good that economic stimulus is doing. Michael Blythe, the Chief Economist for the Commonwealth Bank, said:

The Q1 readings provide some further evidence that economic policy is gaining traction in Australia. Consumer spending proved surprisingly resilient to the array of negatives at work, suggesting that the cash handout component of fiscal stimulus was effective.

And then we have Michael Luscombe, the CEO of Woolworths, who said:

… you have to give them a great deal of credit for getting on the front foot and making sure that the economy didn’t stall.

And from Westpac’s Economic Update:

The cash transfer from the Commonwealth government to households last December enabled households to boost spending … as households largely spent the December cash payment.

So those are the views from market economists and from the business community.

But, as the Prime Minister and I have said, we are not out of the woods yet. There are some very big challenges ahead for us as a nation because the global recession will continue to batter our economy. We are seeing big adjustments in our economy and big challenges, particularly through the collapse in the terms of trade, in export earnings and in private investment. All of these trends, which were evident in the figures yesterday, will have big consequences for jobs and incomes in the Australian economy. That is why our nation-building plans for recovery, investments in infrastructure—road, rail, port, energy efficiency—investments in school modernisation, investments in social housing and so on are so absolutely essential. We still have a big challenge and a very big job ahead. But we are armed with a battle plan that will cushion this economy from the very savage impacts and worst impacts of this global recession.