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

The stimulus package has and will save some 200,000 jobs. The Liberal-National Party position of saying no to stimulus, sit on your hands and do nothing was effectively a yes vote for more than 200,000 extra unemployed in this country. The greatest danger to Australia’s recovery is listening to people who voted against the stimulus package. If we look back four months, they were the same people who accused the government of being overly optimistic in our budget forecast and now they are saying that we are being too pessimistic. So, four months ago, they had a totally different position about the relative strength of the Australian economy from the one they have now. The greatest risk is having the end of game drinks at half-time. That is the greatest risk to the economy at the present time. All the advanced economies are still in the worst recession in 75 years. (Time expired)