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

You could not welcome the rate cut yesterday, and you cannot welcome these figures today. These are solid figures. The government acknowledge that we are not out of the woods yet. But these figures are very solid: 0.3 per cent in the June quarter and 2.7 per cent over the year. The non-farm economy grew by 0.5 per cent. These are very solid numbers, particularly when you compare them to the other major developed economies in the world. In the June quarter, Japan recorded minus 0.6, Germany recorded minus 0.5, France and Italy recorded minus 0.3, and the UK did not grow at all. In fact, over the past year our economy has grown stronger than those of the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. But we are not immune from these difficulties, and that is why we have to do everything we can to address the fundamentals in our economy, do everything we possibly can to put downward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on interest rates and do something about that bill that hangs around the neck of everyone with a mortgage—the $400 Costello bill from the 10 interest rate rises in a row delivered by those opposite.

The good news, particularly, in the figures today comes from business investment. Business investment rose by a strong four per cent in the June quarter and 9.9 per cent over the year, and Australia is well positioned for stronger increases in business investment in future years. Last year’s capex figures show that businesses are planning to invest $100 billion in our economy this financial year. And of course we are also benefiting strongly from record commodity prices. All of these things mean that we do have grounds for optimism. But what we have to do is to go back to the foundations of our economy and deal with all of those issues that were left to us by those opposite. We have to put in place a disciplined fiscal policy. We have to build our surplus, which is why it should not be eroded by those opposite in the Senate. We have to put in place our investment for the future through our investment funds, through our $76 billion infrastructure program, to do something about the capacity constraints left to the people of Australia by those opposite. This government will not make the mistake that those opposite made. The mistake they made was to pat themselves on the back for prosperity and do nothing to sustain it.

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