Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let’s compare it to America, where they have lost 5.7 million jobs over the last 12 months. People who worked in retail in America 12 months ago do not have a job today because retail figures in America are down. If you look at the retail figures for the United States since November—since Lehman Brothers collapsed—you will see that they have fallen by 2.5 per cent. In Japan it has fallen by 3.1 per cent. That is why people are losing their jobs in the United States and Japan.

All of this money which supports the retail industry supports all of the associated businesses, such as the trucking industry and everybody that is associated with the retail industry. These are people who have jobs today who would not have had jobs if we had not taken this effort and had the energy and the wit to stimulate the economy.

It is not just the retail industry, though: have a look at the housing figures that came out today. You do not hear much criticism from the opposition about the increase to the first home owners grant. They were critical at the start, but now they have become great supporters of it. And why wouldn’t they support it? People that they represent have a first home, have bought back into the great Australian dream, because of that boost to the first home owners grant. The $21,000 that enables somebody to get into the housing market with a brand new home at places like Ropes Crossing in the member for Lindsay’s electorate is creating jobs from laying the slab through to putting tiles on the roof and every job in between, whether the tiler, the builder, the glazier who puts the windows in the sills, the person who lays the tiles or the person who cleans the site at the end of the day. The multiplier effect of all of those jobs is substantial.

The data from March says this: loans for construction are up 13.9 per cent and loans for new dwellings are up 8.8 per cent. That is just the month of March. That is already supporting jobs for all of those tradesmen, all those people on the tools, who I have just mentioned. What does it mean? It means real jobs. The evidence is in. The evidence is on our side; the opposition is on the other. That is why you suddenly hear them go about a little bit quiet on the other side.

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