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

Twenty-nine of the 30 OECD countries have experienced at least one quarter of economic growth. As I have said to the House before, eight of Australia’s top 10 trading partners are currently experiencing recession. This is the worst global economic recession that we have seen in three-quarters of a century. Therefore, it directly affects Australian jobs, it affects Australian business and it affects the Australian economy. Australia’s growth in the fourth quarter of last year was negative 0.5 per cent. This was substantially stronger than the average of negative two per cent across the OECD. Australia had higher growth than all of the major advanced economies in the December quarter and was the sixth highest across the entire OECD. The average growth of all OECD countries that have already reported their March quarter GDP was negative 2.1 per cent, and markets are already expecting a negative quarter for Australia when data is released here on Wednesday. I challenge those opposite again to actually use the words ‘global economic recession’ and to understand that in the fourth quarter last year Australia performed relatively well against most other economies. In the first quarter this year it was negative 2.1 per cent, and the Australian government has been taking a range of active measures to cushion the impact of the recession on Australia.

I draw the attention of honourable members in the House to the fact that data on retail sales for April was released today. It showed that retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent. I repeat: retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent. Let us put this into context since the global economic recession hit in the fourth quarter last year. Since the government introduced its stimulus packages, first of all last October and then again in February, we have seen the flowthrough effect in terms of real activity in the economy. Honourable members should focus on these figures: Australian retail sales are now running at 4.8 per cent above their levels for November last year—4.8 per cent above. Every person—every one of the 1½ million Australians working in retail—will be pleased by those numbers. They are numbers which do not seem to feature at all in the public political discourse on the part of those opposite, who, as I have said before, have an interest in talking the economy down at every opportunity. The numbers for Australia—4.8 per cent above the levels of November last year—contrast with the 1.1 per cent fall across the major advanced economies over the same period. In Japan, retail sales fell by three per cent. US retail sales fell by 2.9 per cent and Canadian retail sales fell by 2.7 per cent.

Further data out today relates to company profits. Company profits in Australia fell by 7.2 per cent in the March quarter but are still 6.8 per cent higher through the year. Again I draw the attention of honourable members to the performance of the retail industry within the company profits data. While profits declined in most sectors of the Australian economy, the strongest growth in profits of all industries was recorded in the retail trade group, which rose by 15.5 per cent—15.5 per cent. I also draw honourable members’ attention to recent statements by major Australian retailers about the additional staff they are putting on in the retail sector around the country.

As they engage in a rolling strategy in the House and outside the House of talking the Australian economy down, I say to those opposite that when they do so they should reflect on the positive data which has emerged here on retail sales and the performance of our principal retailers. They are part and parcel—

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