Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Never let the facts get in the way of a good political line from Senator Bushby, because today’s consumer confidence figure shows that consumer confidence fell by 0.2 per cent in March and remains 4.4 per cent above its level in October last year. The Westpac chief economist, Bill Evans, said:

On the face of it, this is a surprisingly good result … Normally we would have expected a solid fall in the Index given the stream of negative news.

There is a strong improvement in the outlook for the economy over the next five years. Mr Evans noted:

This could only be interpreted as a strong vote of confidence that current policies are providing a strong foundation in the longer term.

So those opposite who want to try and cry wolf— (Time expired)