Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Coonan keeps saying, ‘It’s too big; it’s too big.’ But we made a judgment as a responsible government that it is important that we underpin the economy of Australia through this nation building and jobs program. All I can say, on the evidence we have seen from comparable countries around the world, the US and Europe, is that they have not done a particularly flash job to date. In the US, hundreds of thousands of jobs a month are being lost. I just do not believe that the sense of urgency and decisiveness that is needed in these circumstances is recognised by the Liberal-National Party opposition. They do not appear to believe that this is a very serious set of circumstances we face caused by factors beyond this country’s control, through Europe and the US.