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

I think it is a great photo—a fantastic photo. The one of Joe and his new bub is good, too. The Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has done an extraordinary job for the government. This is not the time to engage in any partisan observations of her achievements—but let me just engage in a few! I speak on behalf of government members here when I say that I believe that her extraordinary work and great achievements in relation to Work Choices, the Fair Work Act and so many aspects of Building the Education Revolution have earned her not only the respect of all members on the government side but also wider respect in the general community.

As Deputy Prime Minister and as the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion can I just say that her contribution to the work of this government is simply outstanding. Also behind the scenes, in cabinet and through the various streams of government work, Julia makes an extraordinary contribution to the work of the government. I thank her for that.

To the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, my friend and colleague from the great state of Queensland: it has been an extraordinarily tough year for those charged with the tasks of economic management. I think if you were to get the treasurers or the finance ministers of the world into a room it would rapidly become a global therapy session as they all exchanged stories about how many near-run things there were during the last 12 months since the global financial crisis hit.

To the Treasurer, who now enters the chamber, I thank him for his stewardship over the Australian economy during the year which has been exceptionally difficult. Measured against all previous challenges of previous treasurers of the Commonwealth, dealing with our national economic circumstances in the last 12 months has been right out there in terms of what his predecessors have had to deal with, whether it was under previous Liberal governments or previous Labor governments. Well done, Treasurer.

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