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

I thank Senator Cameron for that question. Senator Cameron, it is abundantly clear—even to those opposite—that the figures speak for themselves. The International Monetary Fund is predicting that the global economy will shrink by 1.4 per cent this year. Yet the coalition tells us that there is no crisis. Thanks to this government’s stimulus package, Australia was the only advanced economy in the world to grow in the year to June—the only one. Yet the coalition says that the stimulus package was not needed. Senator Cameron, you know that Australia workers know better. The global recession has already cost Australian jobs. Our unemployment rate stands at 5.8 per cent. This is unacceptably high. But it would be much higher if the government had not acted quickly and aggressively to shield Australia from the worst effects of the downturn.

If we look at what is happening in other parts of the world, we see that unemployment is running at 9.7 per cent in the United States. It is running at 9.5 per cent in the Euro zone. Are these the types of figures that we should expect from the coalition when they say they want to see that happen in Australia? On Saturday, the head of the IMF warned that the rising levels of unemployment represent the third wave of a global recession, following the financial crisis and the economic downturn. He stressed that it was too early to abandon the stimulus measures and he urged governments to go on supporting demand until private demand is strong enough. And this is precisely what this government is doing.