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

I take it, at least from the member for Sturt’s vote in this House, that he does oppose every single grant to every primary school in his electorate of Sturt. In the absence of him saying no, I assume that is the case. I have referred to the impact in terms of retailers in Mildura, but also I would refer to what some major retailers have had to say most recently about the impact of the government’s economic stimu-lus strategy. For example, Big W has seen a very positive sales trend. Michael Luscombe of Woolworths said on 17 March in the Daily Telegraph that the government’s strategy:

… certainly resonated very strongly in Big W as families stocked up on everyday general merchandise such as kids clothing.

What you have, therefore, is a stimulus felt by smaller retailers, by larger retailers and also, of course, by the range of measures which have gone into the housing sector, as the Minister for Housing has referred to at the dispatch box before. These measures to provide for payments to families, to carers, to pensioners and to veterans are all designed to support stimulus for the 1½ million jobs in the Australian retail sector, which those opposite do not care about.

Beyond that, what are the government doing? We are investing in the largest school modernisation program in Australia’s history. We are also investing in order to make Australian homes energy efficient by installing ceiling insulation in 2.7 million Australian homes. The government are investing in building 20,000 new units of social housing. The government are investing $1.2 billion in the Australian Rail Track Corporation. The government are bringing forward $700 million in a roads program—a Black Spot Program. The government are investing $1.6 billion in critical upgrades to university and TAFE infrastructure. The government’s strategy is clear cut: an economic stimulus plan to support jobs now and to build the infrastructure Australia needs for the future. What we have instead from those opposite is a political strategy of ‘wait and see and do nothing; hope it gets better’ to take political advantage out of the global economic recession. We, the govern-ment, are getting on with the job.

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