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

The chortling member for Aston might listen to this, as he was asking questions yesterday about the impact of the stimulus on activity in the economy. The RBA minutes say:

… retail spending had increased sharply in December, after a run of weak readings in previous months … the higher level of December sales was maintained in January, with sales rising by a further 0.2 per cent.

Further, the RBA attributed this rise to increases in household disposable income which were driven by ‘lower lending interest rates, lower petrol prices and government transfer payments’. Moreover, the RBA noted that the government’s second stimulus would provide further support for the economy. It went on to say:

Looking at government finances, the Australian Government’s fiscal package announced in February would provide significant stimulus to the economy over the next two years.

That is from the Reserve Bank Board’s meeting of 3 March. That goes to the heart of the relationship between the government’s economic stimulus strategy and its impact on economic activity in Australia across the period ahead.

The response to what the government has done is reflected by comments not just by a number of large retailers but also by small business operators in Australia. I note that support is coming in from Mildura, in the member for Mallee’s electorate. Rob McKinnon from Fantastic Furniture in Mildura said, ‘We have doubled our sales since Thursday and made $2,000 more than we did before Christmas.’ Then you have Office Works in Mildura saying, ‘March typically is a tough month in Mildura, but it is very encouraging and I think retail in general in Mildura is doing okay.’ There will be different reports from different parts of the country over time. What I find interesting in the baying and howling from those opposite, though, is that they do not like any good news. You know why? Because they celebrate bad news. That is because they seek to take political advantage out of bad news. We are getting on with the business of providing an economic response to the global economic crisis; they continue in their attempt to take political advantage from the economic crisis.

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