Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Putting in place a vehicle to support employment for 150,000 Australians is not a laughing matter. Those opposite do not understand the magnitude of the challenge. Foreign banks have not been able to guarantee to the Treasury that they will keep funding syndicated loans in this country, and there is a need for such a vehicle. We are putting it in place in a responsible way, with the governance that is required, to ensure that we do our best to support employment in this vital sector, because if foreign banks do withdraw then that will affect property prices across the board and it will result in a massive increase in unemployment in this country.

What those opposite do not understand is the nature of the challenge. First of all we have had the World Bank again revise down growth forecasts. They have revised down the growth figures for China to something like 6.5 per cent. China has been the engine room that has been boosting this economy and the commodity boom for a long time. This is going to be very damaging for the Australian economy. It sends a shock right into the economy. And we have got overnight from the IMF the release of further revised-down forecasts, the fourth revision in a few months. The secretary-general has indicated that once again there will be a further revision down and is putting forward a much sharper contraction in the economy. That is the background to putting in place the Australian Business Investment Partnership, which we are doing with the best corporate governance, which has been put in place with the advice of some of the best minds in business.

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