Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly support the words of the member for Farrer. This evening I would like to inform the House about the importance of this year’s budget and highlight the obvious positive effects our government’s stimulus package is having on businesses in the Territory and in keeping Territorians in jobs.

Rather than my telling you how we are travelling up in the north, I will use a few quotes and excerpts that have been running in the media last week to tell the story. For example, I will tell you what Graham Kemp, General Manager of the Territory Construction Association said in a radio interview on the ABC on Wednesday last week. When asked, ‘Are we losing workers to other parts of the country?’ he said:

No, we’re probably gaining workers from the other parts of the country at the moment because generally things have been so bad along the Eastern seaboard. So from our construction managers’ point of view, we’re getting a better choice of, or a greater choice of contractors, that they can draw on for their projects.

I would also like to draw attention to an article in last Wednesday’s Northern Territory News that had the headline, ‘NT most optimistic on staffing’. The article said:

TERRITORY bosses are the most likely to take on extra staff in the next few months, a survey shows.

Manpower’s employment outlook poll found NT companies were the most optimistic about hiring in Australia.

Territory unemployment remained at 3.6 per cent in May for the fourth month running, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.

The national level rose to 5.7 per cent.

Manpower’s managing director Lincoln Crawley said the NT was defying national economic trends.

“It’s promising to see that employers are not acting hastily, realising the need to retain key employees and the need to combat our ageing population before making pertinent headcount decisions,” he said.

“The Northern Territory has always displayed strong hiring activity and with one of the best economies in the country, the increase confirms past predictions.”

And yet another indicator of how we are travelling up in the Territory was reported on an ABC radio news bulletin last Thursday:

A survey of 1,800 small and medium sized businesses across the country found Territory businesses had by far the most optimistic outlook with 7 out of 10 saying they were confident about the future.

The report’s author, Christina Singh, says the most optimist responses came from the tourism, building and construction industries. Ms Singh said:

The thing businesses tell us is that one of the key reasons that they’re feeling confident at the moment is that they feel the global financial crisis hasn’t really reached them in the Territory. So although we are having many businesses tell us that they are finding conditions difficult, but certainly not to the same extent as elsewhere.

Of course, much of this is as a direct result of the decisive action our government took in response to the global financial crisis. The Rudd Labor government’s budget is already supporting jobs today by building the infrastructure Australia needs for tomorrow.

We are seeing major projects being undertaken in my electorate of Solomon, through the infrastructure projects at all the schools, the work on Tiger Brennan Drive and the work at the hospital. The infrastructure measures delivered in the budget represent a critical investment in the drivers of Australia’s long-term economic growth. That includes an $8.5 billion investment in critical economic infrastructure—in road, rail and port networks. This investment will mean that, when the global recovery takes hold, our ports will not be straining, our rail networks will not be as poor and our roads will not be so clogged.

Many negative things have come out of the last two days, and this is a positive story about how the economic stimulus package is working for my electorate. I urge those opposite to take stock of where we are at and let the relevant inquiries and investigations take their course. Let us get back to the business of governing for all Australians, because I know that the people in my electorate do not enjoy what we have seen in the last two days. Let me finish with a brief quote from Treasurer and what he said in an address at the CEDA State of the Nation conference earlier this month. He said:

The fact is too many Australians will be hurt by this global recession. That’s why it is so important we pull together as a nation and face up to the worst the world can throw at us. … A nation building recovery which supports jobs and invests in the human and physical capital we’ll need to spring out of this global recession as the best placed nation on earth.

I could not agree with him more. (Time expired)