Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

He says ‘Bernie Fraser’. The former Governor of the Reserve Bank and the former Secretary of the Treasury, what would he know! So it is a list of probably 20 economists—I have not counted them—and the shadow Treasurer says ‘Bernie Fraser’. What would he know! They are probably the 20-odd most credible economists in the country. This is what they had to say:

There is no more effective way to stimulate the Australian economy quickly.

They are referring to the government’s actions:

There is no more effective way to stimulate the Australian economy quickly. The success of this measure can be seen in the relative strength of Australian retail sales compared with almost any of our peers. In addition the government plans to spend many billions more on infrastructure.

That was before today’s figures, before they were aware of today’s figures. That was just based on retail trade figures. Now, they are further supported by the economic growth figures. They conclude by saying this:

Deploying our strong balance sheet to use otherwise idle resources—or to put it more compellingly, deserted factories and unemployed workers—to build assets that improve our lives and our economy in the future, seems much more appealing; much more commonsensical than retreating into phobias.

What an eloquent way of putting it—not only putting the argument in a very sound economic framework but putting it in a human framework, pointing out that unless the Australian government acted and stimulated the economy we would have deserted factories and we would have more households affected by an unemployment rate much higher than it is. The opposition are fond of saying, ‘It’s not your money; you’re spending money that’s not yours.’ Well, these are not our jobs we are protecting, either; they are the jobs of our constituents.

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