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

I thank Senator Polley for the question. There is a very good reason why Australia’s economy has performed so well over the last 12 months. It is because the Australian government took early, decisive action to support the economy through the economic stimulus package—a package which those opposite, Liberal and National Party senators, opposed and voted against six times; a package that has helped maintain confidence in the darkest days of the global financial crisis.

Even today, Vanguard Investments chief economist, Joe Davis, said Australia had proved one of the most resilient developed economies during the global financial crisis. He said:

I think it’s actually a very enviable position, quite frankly. Many countries would die to have that sort of full and diversified exposure.

The Commonwealth Bank’s chief economist, Michael Blythe, said last week that there was a real fear that the Australian economy—