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

Yes, he has paid up! The government’s use of fiscal policy since September 2008 has been framed against the backdrop of the deepest global recession since the Great Depression. Australia has not been able to escape the downturn, but the Rudd government has taken decisive action to cushion us from the worst impacts of the global financial crisis and protect Australian jobs.

When those opposite advocated doing nothing to support the jobs of Australians in the face of the worst global recession in 75 years, this government acted quickly and decisively to protect Australian jobs and support the economy. The success of the government’s stimulus measures has been widely recognised by economic experts. As Christine Christian, CEO of Dun and Bradstreet, said just last month:

The improvement in the key indices such as employment and sales expectations is a sign that the economic stimulus has been successful in encouraging household spending.

Unlike those opposite, leading Australian economists recognise that confidence is crucial to our economic stability. Retail sales figures have demonstrated time and time again that the government’s carefully targeted stimulus packages promoted consumer confidence and supported the Australian economy at a time when other developed economies have been in freefall. As Bill Evans, the Chief Economist at Westpac, has said:

The success which the government’s stimulus package has achieved in boosting confidence will be a lesson to other governments—

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