Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the House notes his plea of guilty. Mr Deputy Speaker, the simple fact is that when the global economic crisis clearly became an issue, this government was on the front foot, well ahead of the game, well ahead of others around the world and well ahead, I have to say, of many commentators and those opposite. The trouble for those opposite is that, given that is the case, they have not been quite sure what to do. They instinctively knew they could not oppose it, so they said they supported our $10.4 billion package. They then spent weeks doing their best to undermine it in this place.

That duplicity will win the opposition absolutely no support—none here in this place with the commentators and none out in the real world, where it matters and where the Australian citizens look at what we all say and do. That $10.4 billion stimulus package—and I do not have time to go through all of it—will insulate a large portion of the Australian economy, including the tourism industry and the retail industry, in the three months ahead as we go through the summer vacation period. The money will go to low-income Australians, and we are confident it will be used constructively for their benefit and for the broader economic benefit of our nation. It is good policy, good social policy, good economics and—I have to say—good Labor economics. It will make a difference to many families.

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