Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Then there is the issue of the installation of ceiling insulation. Peter Ruz of Fletcher Insulation has said:

Our own company … had to lay off a shift in one of our plants just before Christmas. We’ll be putting that shift back on, and, you know, there are lots of jobs in manufacturing as well.

Mr Ray Thompson from Bradford Insulation said that their new Brisbane plant would move to 24/7 production. He said:

We will start employing people immediately …

I would like to repeat for the benefit of honourable members the observations last night of the member for Lyne concerning his own area. I will quote what the honourable member said:

… I ran into an old friend on Saturday morning who had just been to the insulation shop. He and his wife had been wanting to get their home insulated for some time. The message that has come through from this place had rekindled the desire. They were tyre-kicking in the insulation shop and reported back to me quite excitedly that the phones were running off the hook and that the poor guy running the business was in a massive fluster. He said to my friend, ‘I’m just going to have to employ more people.’ I would hope that everyone in this chamber, regardless of positions over the last two weeks, would support that message from that business.

I thank the member for Lyne for his contribution to the debate last night.

The government’s nation-building plan also deals with the challenges faced by small business, and here I cite Mr Glenn Elim of Animal World Pet Motel in Cornubia in Queensland. Because of the initiatives the government has announced, most particularly the investment tax break, he is looking to make further investments in business that will see even stronger growth as the economy recovers. Mr Elim says that the investments that were planned for the future are being brought forward because of the government’s package.

On the question of not just small business but community infrastructure as well, I would draw honourable members’ attention to the desperate need for the refreshing and upgrading of infrastructure of local communities around Australia. With the passing of this bill the government is now bringing forward and boosting capital expenditure in regional areas to improve safety for motorists and passengers around the country. I have here a comment from the Mayor of North Sydney Council, Councillor McCaffery, who has stated, ‘Not only will it provide safer communities but it should help to maintain local jobs.’ The Mayor of Fraser Coast Regional Council has also made additional remarks.

The question of the tax bonuses has attracted considerable comment in the debate in this chamber, and also contributions from individual members of the public who are doing it tough in the current economic circumstances and are looking for a helping hand from government to assist them through the impact of this crisis.

These are the elements of the government’s nation-building plan. These are the elements which have attracted widespread support from across the Australian community—members of the community in individual towns and centres represented by those opposite, by government members and by Independent members as well.

Let us consider also why this bill has been passed. It has been passed with the support of every single member of this House and the Senate except for members of the Liberal Party and the National Party. Every government member of parliament has supported this nation-building plan. Every minor party senator has supported this nation-building plan. Every Independent member of this House has supported this nation-building plan. Every Independent senator has supported this nation-building plan. Everybody in this parliament has got behind this nation-building plan except for members of the Liberal Party and the National Party.

I would like to thank each of those members who have supported this bill in the House and in the Senate. I would like to thank government members for their support and their statements explaining the reasons for that support. I would especially like to thank the Independent members who spoke in the House last night with clarity, with honesty and with eloquence. I would like to thank the member for Lyne, the member for New England and the member for Kennedy—all three members knowing what it is like to stand up for their local communities and to stand up for the Australian national interest. Nobody listening to the contributions last night from the Independent senators could doubt that they made their decisions because they concluded that it was in the interests of the people they represent in this place and, from the Independent members as well, the communities of the mid-North Coast of New South Wales, the communities of New England and those of North Queensland. I express my appreciation to Senator Brown in the Senate, who took a mature and cooperative approach to this legislation—unlike the Liberals, who did not. The Independent members did not think that this legislation was perfect but they were prepared to work together to pass it. I would also like to thank Senator Fielding. We understand his genuine concern for the unemployed and for his home state of Victoria. I would also like to thank Senator Xenophon. We understand his passionate concern for the Murray-Darling. The government shares his concern. The Murray-Darling is the lifeblood of so many inland communities in the south of this great continent. We will continue to work with him in the future on this great national challenge. The government understands the urgency of the economic challenges that Australia faces. The Liberal Party does not, because, as supporters of extreme capitalism, not only do they refuse to accept any responsibility—

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