Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

That may be the case, Senator Evans, but he is a nice bloke. He gets a bit misguided, but he is a very nice man. On 13 October last year, Senator Fifield made a comment. People seem to forget how bad it was in October last year: the global economy was going over a cliff, the banks were on the verge of folding and 30 banks globally had either collapsed or been taken over by government. We took action with the stimulus plan, and Senator Fifield agreed with it and supported it. So did the Leader of the Opposition then. Times have changed, but let us just get Senator Fifield’s quote in. Senator Fifield said on Sky News on 13 October:

We’re in a crisis at the moment. This is an economic crisis. And you need to make quick decisions. You need to respond quickly.

Thank you, Senator Fifield; that is exactly what we did. We acted quickly and decisively to stimulate the economy, and you supported it. Your opposition supported it as well, and Malcolm Turnbull said it would work to stimulate the economy.

The government has an economic strategy to get through the global recession. We have a strategy to support jobs and business and cushion the economy through the global recession. It started in November last year with stage 1, the first stage of the stimulus package: the Economic Security Strategy. The start of it was increasing the first home owners grant from $7,000 to between $14,000 and $21,000, boosting the building industry and helping first home buyers. It is working. First home buyers are rushing back into the market. I urge all the coalition senators on the other side of the chamber to go out into their communities and talk to builders and master builders, to tradespeople, to plumbers and to electricians. Ask them about the stimulus strategy and the first home buyers grant. They support it. They pressured the government to keep it in the budget because they know it is having an effect. Something like 59,000 first home buyers are back in the marketplace because of this measure, part of the stimulus package which you supported.

But it did not end there. Stimulus payments were made to pensioners, to carers, to veterans. These payments were an immediate injection into the economy to stop businesses shutting down, to stop unemployment going through the roof. And, Senator Fifield, you supported those payments. But that was just part of the strategy. That was only stage 1. We moved on to stage 2 in February, with the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. This is where the bulk of the government’s infrastructure really came into play. The fact is that 70 per cent of the government’s stimulus is in infrastructure. In February, in that package, the government delivered shovel-ready infrastructure that could start quickly—small and medium-sized projects that would stimulate the economy immediately.

Those senators on the other side of the chamber do not think this is high-quality infrastructure. They do not think that putting infrastructure in schools, in primary schools—building halls, libraries, classrooms, language labs, science labs—is high-quality spending. They do not think it is high-quality investment. Can I tell you, all the teachers, principals and school communities I have spoken to believe it is investment for the future, investment in our children. We are proud to have put that school modernisation program in place. You on that side of the chamber should be ashamed that you opposed it. You opposed money for schools.

We are spending massive amounts now on roads. Go down to Albury and have a look at the Tarcutta bypass. It is going to support 700 jobs. Go to Tasmania and look at the Brighton bypass—380 jobs. A week ago I was in Ulladulla at a youth complex. Who was I standing next to? The Liberal member for Gilmore, who gave a thumbs up to the infrastructure, a thumbs up to 200 jobs locally in the South Coast community. Everywhere I travel in relation to rolling out the stimulus package, Liberal mayors come up to me. The Liberal mayor for Mosman came up to me and said: ‘Mate, I told Tony Abbott that we get nothing under the Liberal Party. It is only Labor that delivers on infrastructure.’ This was a Liberal mayor. He was not the first and, let me tell you, he will not be the last.

The third element to the strategy obviously was the budget last night. This builds on the infrastructure that the government put in place in the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, with $22 billion on big road projects, metro rail projects, rebuilding our highways and fixing our ports. This is funding that should have been spent earlier. We know the truth. We know that the previous government underinvested in and neglected our infrastructure. Talk to Don Argus about the 11 years of neglect—10 per cent down to GDP ratio. We know what the coalition did on infrastructure. This government is fixing it. Not only are we building the infrastructure for tomorrow; we are supporting jobs and small businesses right now in the community, and we are proud of it.