Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

While discussion is happening in the chamber, I would like to take an opportunity also to make a small contribution to this debate and perhaps ask the minister to turn his mind to how the package would affect the constituency I represent in South Australia. Certainly this second economic stimulus package we are considering today builds on the $10.4 billion package that the government implemented in October last year. It is a very welcome economic stimulus package. It has certainly stimulated a lot of debate in the chamber—and I think a lot of very useful debate.

While the opposition senators have been very dismissive of this committee stage of the debate about this package of bills, I think yesterday’s debate was particularly useful as we heard suggestions from senators about other things that could be done to stimulate the economy in Australia. As the minister has pointed out numerous times, while a lot of senators in this place have spent a lot of time considering ways to stimulate the economy, unfortunately we are unable to take up all of those suggestions. But it was telling that the crossbenches in particular came up with some useful contributions in that regard, whereas the coalition senators have made no suggestions at all and have only managed to ask ridiculous questions, as Senator Abetz has just done.

The Nation Building and Jobs Plan has come about because Australia is facing the worst economic situation that it has confronted since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is worth reiterating the core components of the package of bills that is before us today. There are many wonderful initiatives that are going to underpin the Australian economy when we do come out of this economic strife, which we know will not continue forever. This package is designed to ensure that, when we do come out of the economic downturn, we have the infrastructure in place, the skills in place, the training in place—all of the mechanics in place—for us to move forward as the great nation that we are.

The core components of this package that we are considering in the Senate at the moment include free ceiling insulation for over 2.7 million Australian homes. I mentioned South Australia before. South Australians have just survived one of the worst heatwaves that we have ever had. Unfortunately, many elderly South Australians died during that heatwave. I think the numbers were something around the 80 mark. Many of those elderly people died in their homes because they were unable to escape from the heat. While the coalition senators have mocked the installation of ceiling insulation in homes, I wonder what they would say to the elderly people who struggled through that heatwave. I wonder what they would say to them when those elderly people need ceiling insulation to try to protect themselves from the sometimes lethal heat that we have in South Australia. I am particularly supportive of that part of the package, and I know it is going to be a very welcome initiative, especially for lower income South Australians who need to do something to insulate their houses against the terrible heat that we sometimes have there.

Also in this package is a great initiative to assist the 9,450 schools in Australia to upgrade their buildings. Another initiative that has also generated considerable debate is the construction of 20,000 new social and Defence houses. Senator Sherry mentioned earlier that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a particular interest in the fate of homeless people in South Australia. In fact, I remember that, when the Labor Party took government after the 2007 federal election, one of the first things the Prime Minister asked of all his senators and members was that we should get out of our electorate offices, go out into the community and engage with advocacy groups and organisations that work with homeless people. I know many of us went out and did that. We not only met with the organisations and advocacy groups that support homeless people but also met with many homeless people themselves. There is no doubt that one of the things that are absolutely essential for those Australians who are in the unfortunate situation of being homeless but who want to get themselves out of that dreadful situation is to have a base from which to re-establish their lives that is secure, comfortable and affordable.

Of course, being homeless undoubtedly brings with it the situation that you are unemployed as well. Another factor of this package before us is to shore up jobs in Australia. Nobody is hiding from the fact that the economic downturn is going to increase unemployment in Australia. The core of this package of bills that we are considering today is to protect Australia as much as possible from a downturn in employment. In fact, this package is intended to support 90,000 jobs over two years. It does it in a number of ways. One of the ways it does it is in construction of housing and construction and support for infrastructure in schools. It will also do it via an immediate cash injection of $950 that will go to eligible families, single workers, students and, importantly, drought affected farmers. That payment will go to 8.7 million Australians if the senators opposite support this package. If those senators opposite and on the crossbenches do not support this package, then that immediate boost to families who need that money will not happen. I think the people of Australia need to know what the position is of the various senators and parties represented in this chamber. I am proud to say that of course the Australian Labor Party support that cash injection because we know it will give a stimulus to the economy and that, in turn, will protect and support jobs.

Other aspects of the package of bills before us include a temporary business investment tax break for small and general businesses buying eligible assets, and a significant increase for funding local community, infrastructure and road projects—another very welcome initiative. That will boost the number of jobs in the construction industry. Last night we heard on the news some predictions for a downturn in jobs, particularly in that sector of the economy. How quickly things turn, because not 12 months ago we were desperate to find workers in that sector of the economy, which was booming. But now, unfortunately, because of circumstances that Australia did not contribute to, there will be a downturn in the construction industry that this government is desperately trying to address and will address through this economic stimulus package—as long as we can get it through the Senate chamber.

Yesterday, I listened with much interest to the minister talking about the Great Depression of the 1930s and discussions he had with his father about the situation for him during that period. My father, too, suffered through the Great Depression. I often talk to him in the context of the current economic situation about what it was like. His experience was the classic one where his father was either unemployed or underemployed. His father was a carpenter with a large family. That meant that often the family went hungry. The kids would share the shoes to wear to school because there were not enough pairs of shoes to go around and various of his siblings were farmed out to relatives who might have been a little better off to be brought up by them. They were difficult circumstances. One of the things my father and the other elderly people he lives with at his aged-care facility say to me when I visit them is: ‘Don’t let that happen again. Don’t let the young people of Australia have to go through what we went through during the Great Depression.’

I am particularly interested in the elements of this package which support our young people. Clearly in the future we will need them with the skills and the jobs to carry us forward and, indeed, to support the elderly people like my father who are in aged-care facilities. I have been very interested in the reaction of young people to the idea of an economic stimulus package. I noted in the Sunday Mail, the excellent Sunday newspaper from South Australia, which we all read with much interest—