Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, we learnt that Australia’s unemployment rate had risen to 4.8 per cent. We got confirmation of just how heavily the global financial recession is bearing down on Australian jobs. We were reminded just how much Australian workers are being hurt by a crisis that is not of their making—a crisis that began far beyond Australia’s shore. Yesterday we learnt that Nylex, a household name in this country, had gone into voluntary administration. We were told that the gearbox manufacturer Drivetrain Systems International has gone the same way.

Since September 2008, when the financial crisis came to a head, overall economic activity has slowed significantly—that is globally and in Australia. This was initially manifested acutely in the financial sector with the availability of finance becoming a significant concern. Subsequently, the main impact on consumers has been a lack of confidence. This in turn has impacted on business through a lack of demand and an increase on cash flow. The Ai Group recently noted that business may be shelving planned expenditure on capital investment and training while there is a focus on contending with falling demand.

What we have seen throughout a series of economic indicators is that the Australian economy is facing a very serious crisis—a crisis which some will say is not as great here as it is internationally, but it is a crisis nonetheless. The latest lease finance data from the Australian Equipment Lessors Association, for instance, which represents more than 90 per cent of leasing activities, shows that lease and equipment finance in the motor industry fell by 14 per cent in December 2008—a 14 per cent drop in one month. In the same period, lease and equipment finance for total business—that is, the non-motor sectors of the economy—fell by 24 per cent. New business in December was 20 per cent lower than it was a year before, or around 2005 levels.

We are facing an acute challenge in this country. Yesterday we were greeted by a National Australia Bank Quarterly Business Survey showing that business conditions continue to deteriorate and that business confidence is at its lowest levels since the early 1990s. And on this day of all days the opposition chose to block the government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan. They refused to reach out their hands to workers and businesses at risk. They said: ‘Let the market sort it out. Whatever the market decides is fine by us. If market forces try to destroy your job, you must deserve it.’ That was the logic of the position that has been put here: if market forces take away your home, it must be for the best; if market forces undermine your business, you have only yourself to blame. This is essentially the philosophy that has been put to this chamber.

It is a matter of deep concern to me that the opposition do not seem to notice that the market has failed many Australians. They do not seem to appreciate, they do not seem to notice, that their callous neoliberal doctrine has been totally and completely discredited. It is a doctrine that has tripped the global economy into free fall, and Australian workers are now paying the price. The American financial crisis erupted with the global economic crisis when Lehman Brothers collapsed last September. Since that time, 47,000 Australians have lost their jobs. The government has been completely upfront about what impact the meltdown would have on Australian employment. This is a reality this parliament has to face. It just does not follow for us to simply sit back and take whatever the world throws at us. Governments do have the power to intervene in the economy to safeguard their citizens, and the worst failings of the market—and it is a point that seems to be lost on so many senators in this chamber—