Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I was saying that, given the circumstances that Queensland faces, there are two responses they could take. One would be to make cuts to their budget, to their infrastructure projects and to jobs. The second would be to keep spending and stimulate the economy with more spending to protect jobs. We know that, thankfully, Anna Bligh has made the right decision. She has decided on the latter course: keep spending money on infrastructure to support Queensland jobs. We heard at her campaign launch on the weekend that this spending will lead to and support 100,000 Queensland jobs, and that is something that we on the Labor side can be very proud of.

The $17 billion infrastructure package that Anna Bligh, the Premier, has put in place means that every hour of the day the Queensland government will spend $2 million on infrastructure, schools, housing and roads. And, positively, in the 17 months that Premier Bligh has been in her position, she has led a government that has created 168,000 jobs. That is to her credit and to the credit of the government.

Unlike the opposite side of the chamber, who, in their 12 years in government, decided the best way to deal with the states was to play the blame game—to blame them for problems in education and public hospitals—we on this side of the chamber have taken a different approach: to work with state governments on infrastructure and hospitals. We all know the federal coalition’s record on infrastructure during their 12 years. They cut funding to health by five per cent. They cut funding to education by five per cent. In fact, we were the only economy in the OECD reducing funding to education; everyone else was increasing funding to education. The former Prime Minister, John Howard, and Liberal senators on the other side were cutting funding to education and cutting funding to infrastructure. If you do not believe me, believe Don Argus, the Chairman of BHP, because he is on the record talking about the 10 per cent cut over the 12 years of the coalition government.

That is why we are working with the Queensland government with the $42 billion infrastructure package—$2.5 billion going into every one of Queensland’s 1,449 primary schools. We are providing rail and road infrastructure, fixing their highways and providing social housing—things that senators on the opposite side of the chamber ignored and voted against. Every one of the senators on the opposite side of the chamber voted against this infrastructure, this spending. It was the biggest modernisation of the education system in our country’s history, and Liberal senators and National Party senators fronted up to this chamber and voted against it. And they have the hide to come in here today and attack Premier Bligh and the Queensland government for spending money on infrastructure—the hide of them! These are Queensland jobs that are going to be supported during a global recession.

But it is not just Queensland. This is the way they view the world, the way they view the economic crisis: ‘Leave it to the market. Government, stay out of it. Don’t spend, don’t stimulate; leave it to the market to sort out. It’ll be right’. There is a global economic cyclone on the way, as the Prime Minister likes to say, and all the Liberal Party can do is sit on their hands, cross their fingers and hope it misses us. That is not the way that Labor works.

In fact, the Queensland election comes down to one thing—it comes down to jobs. Lawrence Springborg, who does not believe we are in a global recession, is talking about making jobs ‘de-necessary’. In fact, his solution to the problems that Queensland is confronting with the global financial crisis is to do exactly the same as those on the opposite side of the chamber would do—cut back on programs and cut back on funding. He is now making a three per cent cut to the Queensland budget. That will equate to 12,000 jobs being wiped out from Queensland.

We are supporting 100,000 jobs through infrastructure. Mr Springborg is getting rid of 12,000 jobs. That is the choice that Queenslanders now face. Listening to the shadow Treasurer, I wonder how they will make these cuts. How will they make this three per cent cut? They will make it by cutting back on infrastructure. So on Saturday this election is about jobs. (Time expired)