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

I do have a number of responses for Senator Macdonald and also for Senator Joyce. I go to the issues relating to Senator Joyce first. Senator Joyce, in a question to the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration which was taken on notice, asked for some comparative data about stimulus packages around the world juxtaposed against the stimulus package we are considering here. So, at least to that extent, Senator Joyce recognises the relevance by requesting details of stimulus packages in other parts of the world.

I will not go through all the material that will be provided but I do want to indicate that the size of the stimulus package in Australia has been a matter that has been raised throughout the debate, including this morning. To run through this briefly, the stimulus package in the USA, which apparently has only just been passed, is in total US$168 billion or 1.2 per cent of GDP; Spain, $24 billion, or 1.7 per cent of GDP, with a second stimulus of $14.8 billion, which is one per cent of GDP; and Japan, $19.9 billion, or 0.3 per cent, followed by three other stimulus packages of $66.4 billion, or 1.2 per cent of GDP, $44.3 billion, or 0.8 per cent of GDP, and $16.6 billion, or 0.3 per cent of GDP.

I move to Korea—and this is South Korea, not North Korea. I noticed there was some discussion in the committee about North Korea. Frankly, the North Korean economy is a flat earth. It is hard to stimulate an economy like the North Korean economy, but the South Korean stimulus is $8.7 billion, or 1.3 per cent of GDP, then a second stimulus of $10.4 billion, or 1.6 per cent of GDP, a third stimulus of $10.4 billion, or 1.6 per cent of GDP, and then a fourth stimulus of $37.3 billion, or 5.5 per cent of GDP. In Taiwan it is US$12.6 billion, or 3.3 per cent of GDP, and then there are three more: $2.4 billion, or 0.6 per cent of GDP, $2.5 billion, or 0.7 per cent of GDP, and then $9.6 billion, or 2.5 per cent of GDP. Now the fiscal stimulus in Australia is $7 billion, or one per cent of GDP, $10.3 billion, or 1.4 per cent of GDP, $3.2 billion, or 0.4 per cent of GDP, then $28 billion, or 3.8 per cent of GDP. I do have significant further material. In Canada, it is $32.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent.