Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition can interject, they can criticise, they can laugh, but this is supporting Australian jobs. This is supporting tradespeople throughout the countryside—plumbers, electricians, carpenters and bricklayers. It is supporting their businesses and supporting small business. The coalition may have forgotten about small business but the Rudd government has not. We will not forget about the small businesses who need support during the global recession, and this is how the Rudd government is responding to the global recession. We are doing it through infrastructure—infrastructure in schools—something you forgot about.

I can also do some research through the newspapers. Queensland’s Courier-Mail of 6 November refers to property and construction consultants Davis Langdon. What did they say about the Building the Education Revolution? They said:

Without the BER program, which is projected to be complete first quarter of 2011 there is no doubt there would be wholesale job losses in the construction industry.

That is what business is saying. They need this stimulus. They need these projects. Australian schools need the projects. (Time expired)