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

The Leader of the Opposition just interjected saying it was all about me, me, me. I presume that is a reference to the Leader of the Opposition. If I were concerned about the member for Higgins, that is precisely what I would be saying as well.

I am still surprised that those opposite cannot bring themselves to say anything positive about what has happened today with Australia registering positive economic growth of 0.4 per cent in the March quarter. We are facing a global economic recession. It is the worst in 75 years, and Australia is still not out of the woods. But today’s figures show that the government’s cash stimulus payments have worked to cushion Australia from the global recession until our infrastructure investments kick in over the medium term. That is our strategy. And Treasury has confirmed today that, without cash stimulus payments, Australian growth today would now be in recession. In fact, had we followed the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, it follows that the Australian economy would now be in recession had we not provided those cash payments.

Among the major advanced economies, Australia has now the fastest economic growth, the lowest debt and the lowest deficit and is the only one to now not be in recession. These are positive achievements for Australia and it is a tribute to Australians: it is a tribute to small business people; a tribute to the business community; a tribute to workers; a tribute to local communities; and a tribute to tradies because they have gone out there, rolled their sleeves up, not been turned off by negative sentiment and got on with the business of building their businesses, earning an honest day’s dollar and building the Australian economy. That is what the Australian community has been doing, notwithstanding the fact that those opposite, whose heads are now buried in their papers, have been engaged in a strategy to talk the Australian economy down.

There is no doubt that in the future there will be more ups and downs as the global recession works its way through. Growth will continue to be slow for some time, unemployment will continue to rise and we cannot rule out the possibility of further negative economic growth for Australia in the future. These are uncertain, and in fact almost exceptional, times because of the pressures arising from a simultaneous economic downturn across all of the major economies in the world. But let us reflect on this fact: every one of the major advanced economies today is in recession. Twenty-four of the 30 OECD economies are now in recession and 29 of the 30 OECD economies have experienced at least one negative quarter of economic growth. The Australian economy today has registered positive growth in this most difficult of quarters.

Recessions are not avoided by chance; they are the product of the community working together and the product of government action in the economy as well. That is what we have done. Our nation building for recovery strategy has been implemented in three phases. Firstly, by providing direct cash payments to pensioners, carers, veterans and families in order to provide stimulus to the economy now—some $21 billion worth of activity in the economy, while the private sector was in retreat. On top of that, we announced a new policy for first home buyers to treble the first home owners boost. Why was that necessary? To also bring about immediate activity in the economy in order to provide stimulus at a time when the immediate impact of the global recession was being particularly felt, in the fourth quarter last year and the first quarter this year.

This is what the government has done by way of concrete action. The result of that action—and again those opposite bury their heads in their papers—is that Australian retail sales are now running at 4.8 per cent above their levels of November last year, contrasting with a 1.1 per cent fall across the major advanced economies in the same period.

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