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

I was making the point that there are 15,250 more Australians employed in the retail sector now than in November last year. Everyone on this side of the House thinks that is a pretty good outcome and that it is worth talking about—unlike those opposite, who do not have any real concern about the need to support employment in the Australian economy. I was comparing that outcome to the outcome in other advanced economies. In the US there are 308,000 fewer retail jobs than there were last November; in Canada, 37,000 fewer; in the UK, 32,000 fewer; and in New Zealand, 31,000 fewer. What that tells us is that we are doing very well compared to the rest of the world.

When we look at the construction sector, we see that an additional 10,000 construction jobs have been added in the three months from February this year. Look at the comparable figures in terms of other countries. The US construction sector has shed 290,000 jobs during that period. Canada has shed 30,000 construction jobs during that period.

What these figures give us is further evidence that our stimulus efforts are helping to support employment, and that is why the behaviour of the coalition in this House and the behaviour of the coalition in the upper house is so reprehensible and irresponsible—because there has been an impact on confidence and there has been an impact on demand. It is supporting employment, and those outcomes are opposed every step of the way by those opposite.

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