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

I thank the honourable member for her question. I note that those opposite take every opportunity to talk the Australian economy down. I note also that government members are doing everything within their power, through the government, to build the Australian economy up. That is why we are implementing a nation building for recovery plan.

In the final quarter of last year, the global economy virtually fell off a cliff. That is what happened in the events of Lehman’s week in September-October last year, when we saw economies right around the world and financial institutions within those economies begin to reel. We saw what followed in terms of the consequential growth performances of economies around the world. Our response, our nation building for recovery plan, saw us act immediately on the question of providing fiscal stimulus for the Australian economy and in particular support for the 1½ million Australians who work in the retail sector. Then there was the implementation of our infrastructure investment plan, which supports jobs and businesses today by investing in infrastructure for tomorrow. Seventy per cent of the government’s economic stimulus is being invested in infrastructure through our nation building for recovery plan.

The Australian government, through implementing these policies, has had an effect in cushioning the impact of the global recession on Australia so far. That is why Australia is doing better against most economic indicators than most other economies around the world at present. We still have many challenges ahead of us, and we intend to confront each of those challenges as it arises.

What is interesting on the part of those opposite, as they engage in the debate about deficit and debt, is that never once have the words ‘global economic recession’ passed their lips. It is as if the global economic recession has simply disappeared from reality; it is as if this country alone is faced with the challenges that have been brought about by what happened in the critical events of the last quarter of last year. For the benefit of those opposite, growth in the 30 OECD economies fell on average by 2.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009. Twenty-three countries have fallen into this global recession. They include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Twenty-nine of the 30 OECD—

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