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

I thank Senator Crossin for her question. Since the Senate last met, there have been several important measurements of Australia’s progress through the worst global recession in 75 years. The first and most obvious point, of course, is that Australia did not have a recession. We were one of only three advanced economies to avoid recession as the rest of the world sank into deep recession, in many cases. In fact, Australia is one of the few economies which are larger today than they were two years ago. Many of the advanced economies of the world are in fact today smaller than they were two years ago. The latest National Accounts were released earlier this month and they show Australia’s overall economic strength, particularly compared with almost all other advanced economies. Our gross domestic product grew by one-half of a per cent in the March quarter, to be 2.7 per cent higher throughout the year. This is a very positive outcome. It was underpinned by public investment. Those opposite scoff, but if they actually read the national accounts they would see that public investment rose by 12.5 per cent in the March quarter.