Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

He said that the Australian economy was in great trouble because of the global financial crisis in 2009, but:

A large part of the divergence between expectations and reality reflects the fact that aggressive policy action—fiscal and monetary—worked. And it worked quickly.

We have seen that reflected in the ABS labour force figures for February, which showed unemployment continued to track down to 5.3 per cent in February. Those opposite normally at this point would be thanking Peter Costello. I note today there are no mentions of Costello.

Economic stimulus has supported 200,000 jobs. The economy has added 180,000 jobs in the last year alone. Without the stimulus package, the economy would have contracted by 0.7 per cent last year. We would have been plunged into a fourth quarter recession. As I said earlier, the master builders are saying that the stimulus package is supporting 50,000 jobs— (Time expired)