Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House this week’s key economic data and what it means for Australia’s performance during this global recession?

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

I thank the member for Solomon for his question because I think he has a detailed understanding of the importance of economic stimulus and nation building.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The House will come to order. The question has been asked and is being responded to. It is not an opportunity for people to talk loudly and interrupt. The Treasurer has the call.

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

Mr Speaker, it is understandable how negative the opposition have become. They do not understand the importance of 277 projects on the ground in the electorate of Solomon. They do not understand that at all. They do not understand the importance of 72 school projects and the importance of 185 defence housing projects. They do not understand that because they do not understand the importance of economic stimulus in the worst global recession in over 75 years. We are in the middle of a situation where virtually every advanced country has gone into recession or has gone backwards.

Australia is not immune from these circumstances. The truth is, as the Prime Minister said before, ‘We are weathering the storm much better than many other countries.’ Of course, one of the reasons that is the case is the economic stimulus this government has put in place. We understand the importance, when the world contracts so sharply, of putting in place economic stimulus to support employment in local communities and to support local businesses, which is why it is so pleasing to see today the retail trade figures.

Retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent in April, which means sales are now running at a stunning 4.8 per cent above their levels of November last year. That is when our first stimulus package began to flow. The Prime Minister said that our positive 4.8 per cent since November compares with minus three per cent in Japan, minus 2.9 per cent in the United States and minus 2.7 per cent in Canada over the same period. This is a boost, which is very important as the Prime Minister said for the retail sector itself, but it flows right through the economy. It flows right through and keeps people in jobs right across the supply chain. Those opposite do not understand the importance of this to people who work in transport such as truck drivers. They do not understand the importance of this to people who work in warehouses and so forth. What these figures do show is how important economic stimulus is to support employment.

Had we not acted as quickly as we did last October and had we not acted as quickly as we did last February we would not be seeing these sorts of figures. Of course we have the national accounts data, which will be out later in the week. We know that for the March quarter things did get worse globally through that quarter. Japan’s economy—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How do you know?

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

I am talking internationally. Things got a lot worse during that quarter internationally.

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

The Treasurer will ignore the interjection. Standing order 65(b) applies to the member for North Sydney as well.

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

He probably missed it, Mr Speaker. He probably missed the fact that Japan’s economy shrunk by a massive four per cent, the worst performance since records began in 1955. The UK contracted by 1.9 per cent, its worst performance since 1979. Germany contracted by 3.8 per cent, its worst since 1970. Of course the US contracted by 1.5 per cent, France by 1.2 per cent and Italy by 2.4 per cent. Somehow those opposite want to pretend that this country is completely immune from those events. They want to pretend that there is no impact in this country at all. We understand the importance of that, which is why we have put in place the first phase of our economic stimulus with cash payments to households. It is why we have put in place shovel-ready projects investing in homes and schools.

Whatever the outcome on Wednesday there are two things that we know for sure. The first one is that things would be much worse if we did not act to stimulate the economy and the second one is that those opposite were wrong—absolutely wrong—to vote against the measures to support jobs in this House. Of course we have seen the Leader of the Opposition all over the television in the last 24 hours talking the economy down. We heard no mention of a global recession, not one mention of the challenges imposed on us by the world and no mention of nation building for recovery. All we got from the Leader of the Opposition was complete opportunism, because he has one big priority: it is for the economy to fail so that he can succeed. That is how negative he has become. Usually leaders of the opposition are called alternative prime ministers but not so with this one because he has no alternative policy whatsoever, none whatsoever, and the negative approach we have had from those opposite demonstrates how unqualified they are to deal with this situation. We will go on with cushioning our economy from this global recession and supporting employment, and those opposite are only going to be negative.