Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I notice there are a variety of views about the impact of the stimulus, including from those opposite. Senator Xenophon is not here—I was going to refer to a criticism that he made. What we do know is that the stimulus package this Labor government has developed has cushioned the Australian economy against the worst impacts of the worldwide financial and economic recession. At a time when world economies are shrinking, Australia, I think, is now one of two, out of some 30 advanced economies, not to have gone into recession. That is as a consequence of a range of policy initiatives, in particular a consequence of the short-term impact of the stimulus package and also, of course, the actions of the Reserve Bank in reducing interest rates to lows not seen in 50 years.

As I have said, advanced economies are expected to contract by a massive 3.8 per cent in 2009. Against this background of uncertainty in some economies, particularly in the United States—yesterday I referred to yet another bank collapse in the United States, in the state of Alabama, where another substantial bank collapsed—and given the uncertainty with respect to very close to double-digit unemployment in the United States and the collapse of consumption in the United States, I would point out to the opposition that, in terms of the impact that the question marks over the US economy—and it is the world’s largest economy—will have in, say, China on the recent— (Time expired)