Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on developments in global markets and Australia’s decisive response to the global recession?

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

I thank the honourable member for Braddon for his question because it goes to those matters which all working families in Australia and the entire community want to see the nation’s parliament deal with—that is, how are we supporting jobs in the midst of the worst recession that the world has seen in three-quarters of a century; what are we doing to build up our schools, our social housing and the key infrastructure of the nation in order to make a difference? We are not out of the woods yet. Global stock markets suffered significant falls yesterday. The S&P 500 fell 3.06 per cent—its worst day in two months—and in London the FTSE fell by 2.57 per cent. These falls underline the ongoing fragility of the global economy. The falls were caused in part by concerns that unemployment around the world is rising. In a statement yesterday the White House said that the US administration expects unemployment will reach 10 per cent within the next few months. The current unemployment rate reached a 25-year high of 9.4 per cent in May. The global stock market falls are now being attributed to the World Bank’s growth downgrade that I referred to in the parliament yesterday.

What we would have sought to do as a government is to provide a range of measures out there to support the economy at this difficult time. On that account I refer to the report on the front page of today’s Financial Review which goes to the business community’s response to the business investment allowance that the government announced at the end of last year. The government’s investment allowance provides a temporary tax break of 50 per cent for small businesses and 30 per cent for larger companies to encourage new business and new business investment and to provide immediate stimulus to the economy. I am pleased to quote from the article, which says that Healthscope, a private health provider, is bringing forward $5 million worth of spending on surgical equipment, beds and courier cars for its hospitals due to the government’s policy. Gary Kent, chief financial officer of Healthscope, said:

I think it’s a good move by the government … it’s made us focus on [investment] and commit to it …

Further, Caltex is bringing forward $9 million worth of pump supply and installation to its stations before 1 July.

Also, I had the privilege today of visiting the Trinity Christian School in Wanniassa. I looked carefully there at what the school is doing in the implementation of Building the Education Revolution. I attended that with the local member, Annette Ellis. We spoke to the local principal about how it is actually going to make a difference to that school. There is a building going up worth about $2 million—we saw some of the workmen there this morning—and, as I am advised, it will include about five new learning areas which will be wired to the new economy. On top of that they are extending the library by about a third. It is a school, I am advised, of about 1,139 kids. The Building the Education Revolution makes a difference to local schools like that right across the country. Of course, Trinity Christian School is one of about 7½ thousand primary schools across the country. All members in this House are having these construction projects built across their electorates and their communities to make a difference.

In my dealings with principals, P&Cs and P&Fs the overwhelming response is they want to see these projects done. They want to see their schools improve. They want to see that they have the best classrooms, the best libraries, the best multipurpose halls, the best science centres and the best language centres. That is what the government wants for them as well. Therefore, with the government’s overall $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution program, this is being rolled out. Seventy per cent of the total funding for the program is being committed to 20,159 projects across the country. To date an estimated 99.3 per cent of schools have received funding under the National School Pride Program and nearly 65 per cent of schools under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program.

These are the practical measures that we have used and deployed in order to make a difference for local communities, for local school children, but most critically also for the national economy. These are important measures. They are what the community expects of us—helping business by the measures that we put in place by way of the temporary investment allowance and helping school communities and local tradies. I spoke to some carpenters out there this morning—one bloke was a young apprentice working on a building site—and they were supportive of the sorts of projects that we are putting up around the country.

This is the positive leadership that the nation expects of a government and of political leaders in our country at a time like this. I contrast positive leadership with the avalanche of negativity from those opposite. Not only are they engaged in a negative fear campaign on debt and deficit to talk the economy down but they have now engaged in a negative smear campaign to try and bring the government down. That is what we have had from those opposite—undiluted negativity. I would say again to the Leader of the Opposition: there are basic questions which the parliament needs to have the answers to in order for him to cease being a roadblock to national recovery—blocking things in the Senate and failing to even allow a vote to occur on the CPRS. He cannot even unite his own party on the question of the passage of alcopops. Then we have of course the absolute shambles that the opposition have been in on the question that we have been debating here in recent days. That is why the Leader of the Opposition has but one honourable course of action, and that is to stand in this parliament to apologise and to resign. As a minimum, the Leader of the Opposition must detail to the parliament all of his and the opposition’s dealings in relation to this fake and forged email. They must detail to the parliament—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. He was asked about the global financial crisis and his answer should be about—

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

The member for Warringah will resume his seat. The Prime Minister will respond to the question and relate his material to the question.

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

Part of dealing with the challenge of ensuring that our measures are in place to deal with the global financial crisis depends on what happens in the Senate. We have complete disunity from those opposite about whether they are going to oppose or support the CPRS, and there is the disappearance of leadership on the part of the Leader of the Opposition as they voted in the Senate today, I am advised—I stand to be corrected on this—to put off a vote, that is, refusing to vote altogether. They voted not to vote. Business wants certainty. Businesses out there, as the generators of economic recovery, want the rules done, yet those opposite are saying, ‘Oh, no. Let’s not have any leadership on this question.’ There is no leadership also on the passage of a measure concerning alcopops. But leadership also means taking responsibility for your actions. Leadership means standing up and explaining the entirety of your dealings in relation to this fake email, the entirety of the dealings in relation to this individual public servant and confirming to the parliament full cooperation on the part of computer systems and the rest in terms of the investigation which the AFP have underway. It is necessary for the Leader of the Opposition, finally and formally, to do the decent thing: stand, apologise and resign.