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

Mr Speaker, it is understandable how negative the opposition have become. They do not understand the importance of 277 projects on the ground in the electorate of Solomon. They do not understand that at all. They do not understand the importance of 72 school projects and the importance of 185 defence housing projects. They do not understand that because they do not understand the importance of economic stimulus in the worst global recession in over 75 years. We are in the middle of a situation where virtually every advanced country has gone into recession or has gone backwards.

Australia is not immune from these circumstances. The truth is, as the Prime Minister said before, ‘We are weathering the storm much better than many other countries.’ Of course, one of the reasons that is the case is the economic stimulus this government has put in place. We understand the importance, when the world contracts so sharply, of putting in place economic stimulus to support employment in local communities and to support local businesses, which is why it is so pleasing to see today the retail trade figures.

Retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent in April, which means sales are now running at a stunning 4.8 per cent above their levels of November last year. That is when our first stimulus package began to flow. The Prime Minister said that our positive 4.8 per cent since November compares with minus three per cent in Japan, minus 2.9 per cent in the United States and minus 2.7 per cent in Canada over the same period. This is a boost, which is very important as the Prime Minister said for the retail sector itself, but it flows right through the economy. It flows right through and keeps people in jobs right across the supply chain. Those opposite do not understand the importance of this to people who work in transport such as truck drivers. They do not understand the importance of this to people who work in warehouses and so forth. What these figures do show is how important economic stimulus is to support employment.

Had we not acted as quickly as we did last October and had we not acted as quickly as we did last February we would not be seeing these sorts of figures. Of course we have the national accounts data, which will be out later in the week. We know that for the March quarter things did get worse globally through that quarter. Japan’s economy—

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