Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to an answer the Treasurer gave yesterday regarding the manufacture of $4 billion worth of insulation to be installed in Australian roofs. I quote: ‘There’s no doubt there will be some imports.’ When the Treasurer said that, was it the government’s intention that the $42 billion fiscal package would support 90,000 jobs in Australia or overseas?

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

The government has embarked on a $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan because it is the right thing to do for Australia. It is a plan of action for the economy at a time of global economic recession. The alternative put forward by those opposite is to do nothing. That is where we have got to in this debate.

On the elements of the program itself, firstly, we have a $15 billion plan—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. The Prime Minister was not asked about any alternatives, he was asked about Australian jobs.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. I am sure that the Prime Minister is quite aware of what the question was. The Prime Minister will respond to the question.

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

In terms of the contents of the government’s nation-building plan, there is $15 billion of investment in a building program affecting every primary school in the country. We voted for that; you voted it down.

The second element is to invest $6 billion into the biggest social housing investment the country has ever seen. We voted for that; you voted it down.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The Prime Minister was not asked a question about any other issue than insulation. He was not asked about schools, he was not asked about other kinds of infrastructure. I would ask you to bring him back to the question, which was about jobs being imported overseas.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Chris, our imports come from overseas and our exports are sent overseas.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Small Business is not helping me. The question at the end of the question referred to the $42 billion package and 90,000 jobs.

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

The third element of the government’s nation-building plan is our intention to create energy efficient housing for the nation. That is designed to bring about a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to the equivalent of some 49 million tonnes of GHGs, the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road. The means by which we propose to do that is to ensure that owner-occupied dwellings across the country have ceiling insulation. That is why we have embarked upon this practical program.

On the specifics of the program, I draw the Leader of the Opposition, in the interesting new twist in his engagement in this debate, to the comments by the CEO of the Insulation Council of Australia dated 13 February where the CEO says that the package will create around 4,000 jobs, and that ‘the economic multiplier will ripple well past the insulation industry’s raw material suppliers, manufacturers, installers and delivery drivers’. Let us just reflect for a moment, for example, on people who work in the retail sector in Australia. They sell products which are made in Australia and overseas. We last year decided to support retail and consumption by two sets of measures, one in the measures we released in December and again most recently which will flow through in March and April. Why? Because in each and every one of the electorates represented opposite there are shops, small shops, which sell goods that are made in Australia and overseas. But the jobs in those shops are equally important to this government whatever the product they happen to sell, because we take an interest in all those folk who depend on the continuing turnover of economic activity to actually have a job. That is why we did that.

On the question of the insulation industry, again I would draw the attention of the honourable member to the statement delivered by the Insulation Council of Australia. The labour intensity of installing insulation batts is huge. The labour intensity of actually getting the stuff out to households is huge. Material suppliers: the impact there is significant. And on top of all of that we believe that those who are engaged in the domestic manufacture will be advantaged as well. It is the total jobs impact of this measure, the social housing measure and on top of that the school building measure which has underpinned the government’s determination to provide practical support for jobs at this time of the global economic recession. The government has taken decisive economic action to support the economy at a time when we are suffering assault from forces of the global economy beyond our shores. Those opposite wish to sit in their comfortable seats and do nothing.