Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is facing its greatest economic challenge in our lifetimes. During this global recession, the Rudd government’s priority is to support jobs and small businesses today by investing in the infrastructure we need for tomorrow while also ensuring we restore the budget to surplus after the global recession is over. That is why our policies focus on investment in the following areas: school infrastructure, building on the largest school modernisation program in Australia’s history; $4.7 billion to start building the National Broadband Network, improving vital communications infrastructure; $3.2 billion for public hospital infrastructure, modern cancer services and medical research, including $200 million for Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia; and $4.6 billion to improve rail networks across Australia.

I wish to outline what the economic stimulus funding means on a local level to a local community such as my electorate of Hindmarsh. The Guardian Messenger, a local newspaper in my electorate, reported on 20 May, under the headline ‘$15 million boost for schools’:

DOZENS of jobs will be supported in the southwest over the next two years through major construction projects at Adelaide primary schools.

Four local construction companies have won contracts to build new libraries, halls and classrooms under round one of the Federal Government’s Primary Schools for the 21st Century program.

These include local companies in my electorate such as Weir Construction, which has been able to retain its 50 full-time workers through the economic downturn and is very optimistic about winning more work on other school infrastructure projects. Camden Park based Scott Salisbury Homes is also in my electorate. It says that the contracts will provide long-term work for 10 to 20 people, many of them locals. The company has also rehired one worker who had recently been made redundant. Another company is Badge Constructions, which will build a $2.5 million hall and classroom block at Fulham North Primary School at Henley Beach. It has been estimated that this project will provide employment for local people for six to seven months. These are real jobs for real people in real communities.

Another story in the Guardian Messenger, headlined ‘Trade jobs boost for southwest’, outlines a similar positive story. It states:

STRONG numbers of new apprentices show the southwest is continuing to defy the economic downturn …

The story quotes Mr Atwell, an apprentice broker who finds positions for apprentices in the western suburbs. He said that the $15 million in federal grants for major building works in local primary schools, coupled with projects such as the desalination plant, would help maintain demand for building, carpentry, plumbing and electrical apprentices in the area. That is very good news for the electorate of Hindmarsh and my area. The story also quotes him as saying:

It (the stimulus funding) is giving the smaller construction companies confidence to take on an apprentice because they know there is going to be a lot of work.

Youth Employment Alliance general manager Martin Threadgold said in the same article that construction was driving demand for apprentices in the area and backed Mr Atwell’s prediction that the industry would continue to flourish as major infrastructure projects commenced.

These two examples are exactly what the economic stimulus funding is all about—supporting jobs and providing infrastructure for the future. It is just a small example of what is happening around the country. When the stimulus package gets up to full steam in about 12 months, there will be around 35,000 individual construction projects around the country, supporting thousands of jobs and small businesses. I am proud to be part of a government that has been prepared to tackle the hard issues and step up to the plate and deliver results.

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