Laurie Ferguson (Reid, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly. If the previous government had got its way in deregulating further the financial markets, the current protections for this economy would have disappeared, as they have in Europe. What we are saying is that the opposition are trying to delete the context and the reality in which this government has been forced to act. With them it is as though it is all plain sailing and the government is simply spending under a fatuous kind of nonpolicy. I thought that most of the previous speaker’s contribution was not about decrying the expenditures, as he actually seemed to be saying we should have had a better delivery of them. That is quite at variance with the opposition’s fundamental position. As I said, we have here a situation that is not as it was. There is a global economic crisis. There is a situation in which the government has been forced to act. We could cite examples around the world: Citibank, AIG and the Royal Bank of Scotland, which at one stage was the biggest company in the world. There was a situation whereby the UK government had to pump into that bank $45 billion as an emergency, taking 95 per cent of the bank, and then give a $302 billion guarantee.

That is a situation in which the government finds itself. It is a situation that many countries around the world face. There have been different reactions to it. There have been different aspects of the crisis, but fundamentally there has been a collapse of confidence, a situation where large international banking institutions have collapsed. Germany—a country that has decried other Europeans being too liberal in loosening policy—sees a possible contraction of its economy by 5.4 per cent over the next year. Going by the contributions from the opposite side, one would think that nothing is happening in the world, that the government is not being forced to act and that it does not seek to create jobs to protect employment in a crisis. An earlier speaker, the member for Maranoa, was cited, and it shows that they have a bit of a concentration on the situation of rural students. It is understandable. They are the people who are closest to them, the people they are connected with.

Unfortunately for some of us, we have different preoccupations. My electorate is 46 per cent overseas-born, and that is a situation that has certain realities. These people are in the most marginalised part of employment. They are the people least considered in the employment market. They are identified in suburbs that have the highest unemployment rates even now. I am not for a moment resiling from the government extending the first home owners scheme—the $14,000 and $21,000. Certainly there will be some people who take up that scheme who probably should not. There will be a proportion of them for whom it would be ill-advised. But we cannot deny that it has had an impact on keeping the industry afloat. I recently went out to part of my electorate with the state and federal ministers for housing to see the national public housing policy in practice. There the employer—not the union, not the workers, but the employer—said on national television that he was only being kept afloat by these measures. That is the reality in an area where there has been a long-term connection with the building industry. It has been a very high buyer. So I do not for a moment resile from that.

Nor do I believe that the major emphasis should be on the level of debt in this crisis. Twelve thousand dwellings in my electorate—because it has significant public housing—will have long-overdue maintenance. The state government over a period of time—Labor and Liberal governments historically—have been associated with neglect of this sector. There will be $4½ million going to that in my electorate. I say that it will be money well-spent. This is about people living in decent accommodation and people whose jobs doing maintenance will be protected, and it is about the crucial building materials sector. We have heard mention of Bradford Insulation with regard to some of the environmental measures. In this sector money directed to the first home buyers scheme and social housing will protect jobs. Similarly, 109 dwellings will go up in my electorate and that social housing is very worth while. It is aimed at people who are homeless and it is doing something to create employment.

We have had a very extensive infrastructure contribution in the budget. I know that some in New South Wales have decried their failure to get enough money for the West Metro—they are only getting $91 million for a feasibility study. But, quite frankly, over a period of time people in my region in Sydney have lost faith in a number of commitments on rail connections to Parramatta. If the state government could not make a proper submission then I think they should spend less time in cabinet meetings decrying their failure and more time on possibly delivering worthwhile paperwork. There will be significant work in private and government schools, with a variety of measures—refurbishment in general, painting, floor coverings, stormwater components and general building maintenance et cetera—throughout the area.

Despite the overwhelming problems that are being faced by the global economy, one can say that, while one would not be surprised if the economy deteriorated further, in the short term there are some signs that the government’s measures have had some worthwhile outcomes. We only have to look at a few figures from the last few days to see that. Consumption is up by half a per cent, seasonally adjusted. There has been 0.4 per cent GDP growth, when people were expecting a fall, particularly after the 0.6 per cent in the December quarter. I do not for a moment say that there are not going to be projects that fail, because there is a sense of urgency that things have to be done now. We are in a situation where we cannot pay 25 architects and 36 engineers to sit around for the next six years on projects. We have to make sure that things are occurring now.

Despite those problems, there are, as I say, signs that the measures are having some impact. We all know that unemployment in April, surprisingly, was only at 5.4 per cent. But government itself expects it to rise to well over eight per cent. But, as I say, there are signs that, as everyone says, the Australian economy is stronger, it has better protections in its fiduciary controls and, in addition, these government measures seem to be going somewhere.

I particularly welcome the government’s initiatives in regard to jobs—the $41 a fortnight for people who could possibly suffer long-term unemployment. It is hoped that by 2011 50,000 people will take up training and education. They will also receive training and learning bonuses and education entry payments. Crucially, we want people to engage with the system. We want people to take up opportunities. We do not want to see people get into a rut and fall into a pattern where people will not employ them because they have been so long out of the system they have lost skills or have skills that are no longer valuable. There are strong initiatives not only in regard to a very extensive infrastructure program but also in regard to attempting to make sure people do engage with the education and training scheme. I am hopeful that in the next day or so we will see that emphasis reiterated with announcements in regard to TAFE expenditure in New South Wales. Lidcombe and Granville TAFEs in my electorate have proposals. I would think that that would be another worthwhile initiative in regard to the budget.

In this budget, $25 million will go to Silverwater for a learning centre at Energy Australia. That will look at an interactive education facility designed to educate students, builders and the public about the possibilities and benefits of building green. The project will enhance the capacity of Energy Australia to conduct research and training that will support the implementation. You could not get many sites better than that. It is close to the Olympic precinct and two major roads—Silverwater Road and Parramatta Road. That is, as I say, a very worthwhile gesture. Also near to the Sydney Olympic Park, there will be $78.5 million going to boost the Bureau of Meteorology in the next generation of weather forecasting. In the area of $100 million is going to those two projects within the Reid electorate.

As well as that, I want to say that in this budget the government continues to fund settlement at a level that is commensurate with the refugee humanitarian intake. A number of organisations, particularly the Auburn Migrant Resource Centre, recently received the coming year’s SGP allocation. They are organisations that are doing very valuable work in trying to make sure that people entering this country are engaged with the mainstream and not marginalised and put into ghettos.

In conclusion, I reiterate the point that this is not in a vacuum. This is not to be compared with actions of this or that previous government. It is not to be seen as a partisan political practice. We are dealing with a very stark economic crisis. We have a situation where the government could choose to sit on its hands and wait until banking confidence increases, until trade revives and until other countries take initiatives. Or, in contrast, it could choose to do something to ensure that consumption is maintained; to ensure that the retail sector is kept afloat, thus ensuring that jobs there are retained; to ensure that money is spent on housing construction, mainly in the area of social housing and the school system, which have seen fairly distinct failings in regard to construction; and to ensure that, through all that, jobs are maintained at the same time.

Similarly, infrastructure spending is a two-way thing—making sure that economic efficiencies occur and that infrastructure is there for ports, road and rail. But, at the same time, it means that suppliers, transport, manual labour and engineers et cetera are maintained so that companies continue to operate. It is unfortunate that people have chosen to go into rather infantile remarks about what per capita debt is in this country and how long it will take to pay it off, as though this was some kind of loosely thought-out, late-at-night decision over a few grogs by the government. There is a crucial national need to maintain employment and maintain consumption in this country.

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