Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

who live between our electorates and families that congregate at similar schools will be interested to know that the member for Fadden is not supporting this safety net. However, we can have a discussion about that another time.

This bill is about protecting jobs. As the Prime Minister said, it is about the cyclone. I know the opposition always laugh at these metaphors, but the reality is that this is about trying to predict an outcome. It is about safeguarding against uncertain changes. This stimulus package is about building a raft for the government to be able to act quickly in the event of possible unemployment through these global changes, and for those individuals who are somewhat affected by the changes.

During these sorts of events, manufacturing is an area of huge concern. Compared to the rest of the world, Australia has a small manufacturing base; however it is vital to some of the regions. My electorate of Forde has boat builders, meat processors and food producers—all industries that are part of the economic drivers that employ lots of people. For example, I have talked about Bromelton and Yatala as sites with a large number of manufacturers, and the member for Fadden would be well aware of Yatala as it borders our electorates. I talk to a number of businesses through the chambers of commerce and meet with individuals. At the moment they believe that they can move forward, but they are aware of what we are doing as a government not only to protect jobs but also to stimulate the economy to keep those businesses afloat.

My electorate has a large meat producer—the Teys Brothers have a major plant there—situated in Beenleigh. Nearly 1,000 people are employed at that particular site. That company has been there since 1946. They believe that they can weather the storm, but they are also very keen to know that as a government we are doing everything that we can to make consumers feel comfortable enough to spend money. It is one of those issues that we can argue about politically, and we can look at different philosophical standards, but at the end of the day this is about confidence in the local market and in consumers. On a number of occasions just last week I spoke to a number of chambers of commerce. While there is a lot of discussion, questions and answers about what we are doing as a government, I am very proud to be able to say that we are committed to ensuring that we do everything we can for small and large businesses generally.

As I said, Teys is one particular organisation that is key to the employment success of our region. But there are much smaller businesses which hang off the retail and service sectors. I was talking to the Logan Chamber of Commerce President, Bill Richards, very recently about the chamber activities. They are very concerned and very keen to ensure that their members are kept well aware of the changes that we are making. Richard Somers at the Logan Country Chamber of Commerce situated at Jimboomba very much agreed that this is about giving people confidence—not only confidence for consumers but also confidence for those small businesses to continue to invest and to spend money. Any stimulus is very much a psychological thing as much as it is a policy or an ideological position. We need to ensure that we continue to provide confidence, not only for the consumers but also for those who provide the jobs and take up investment.

I should also briefly mention that while the seat of Forde is known as the Gold Coast hinterland because it sits on the Tamborine Mountain escarpment and goes west from that point, I have many representations from Gold Coast city businesses as well as the Gold Coast City Council. Their economic development office, who I meet with fairly regularly, are very keen for this chamber to be aware that, while the Gold Coast, for a whole range of reasons, seems to be a very flamboyant and secure economy, a downturn in construction hit the Gold Coast nearly 12 months ago. A major developer collapsed. Gold Coast businesses and construction developers are major employers so the council are very concerned that, because they are seen to be a very successful council, governments will not necessarily understand that they need support. So, today in this chamber I certainly pass on the concerns of the economic development office of the Gold Coast City Council.

But the council—a very competent council—is very keen to work in the public and private partnerships, through the PPPs. I think the money that this government is rolling out to local governments by default sets up a whole range of PPPs. We have councils working with private enterprise and with state and federal governments to provide a whole range of stimuli on the ground. In fact, I have some concern that in the current election campaign in Queensland the Leader of the Opposition, Lawrence Springborg, is talking about cutting back on infrastructure projects. While that sounds like a political statement it certainly is not. Our position is that we understand that investment—continued investment—in infrastructure is always important. I know that one particular project that I have been supporting—and the government has shown some interest in it—is the AFL stadium on the Gold Coast. I believe that the opposition leader is saying that they will not proceed with that particular project if they get into government.

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