Mr TREVOR (2:25 PM) —My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House the national accounts figures released today and what they say about Australia’s performance during this global recession?

Mr SWAN (Treasurer) —I thank the member for Flynn for his question. The national accounts today show that the Australian economy has outperformed the other advanced economies in the March quarter. I think this is a tribute to the resilience and toughness of the Australian people. It is a very, very clear sign that the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy are working to support jobs, business and growth in our economy. GDP rose by 0.4 per cent in the March quarter and it is also 0.4 per cent higher over the year. To put these positive figures in perspective, I think it pays to have a look at these outcomes relative to what is going on elsewhere in the world, because I think what is going on elsewhere in the world shows what a positive tribute these figures are—

Mr Laming interjecting—

Mr SWAN —to all hardworking Australians. We have a look around the world at what has been happening and we can see all the evidence of the worst global recession—

Mr Laming —Banking prices!

The SPEAKER —The member for Bowman!

Mr SWAN —in the last 75 years. Japan’s economy contracted by four per cent; the United Kingdom contracted by 1.9 per cent.

Mr Laming —Banking prices!

The SPEAKER —The member for Bowman!

Mr Laming —Banking prices!

The SPEAKER —The member for Bowman will leave the chamber for one hour under standing order 94(a).

The member for Bowman then left the chamber.

Mr SWAN —They are glum today, Mr Speaker—they are very glum and cranky.

The SPEAKER —Order! The Treasurer will ignore the interjections.

Mr Pyne —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I simply ask you, under the standing order which you have just used, why it is that the member for Bowman has been asked to leave the chamber when the member for Solomon was simply warned and not asked to leave the chamber?

The SPEAKER —The only inconsistency I can see in the way that I have treated the member for Bowman is that the member for Sturt gets more favourable treatment. On three occasions he interjected. On two of them I tried to bring it to his attention that I was hearing the interjection and asked him to desist. I think that is a fair cop, because there are some people who are constant interjectors. I repeat: if you look at the standing orders I could actually deal much more savagely with a whole host of people, but I think at the time, in fairness, being the only person interjecting and the person would not desist, I have dealt with him satisfactorily.

Mr Abbott —Would you put me out next time the Prime Minister starts—

The SPEAKER —As I have indicated to the member for Warringah, I am not rewarding him again!

Mr SWAN —I was talking about what is happening elsewhere in the world, in other advanced economies—the very deep and sharp and sudden contractions that have occurred across these economies, not only in the December quarter but they have been repeated in the March quarter. Germany in March contracted by 3.8 per cent; France contracted by 1.2 per cent; Canada—only this week the figures came out—contracted by 1.4 per cent. All up, the major advanced economies contracted by 2.2 per cent in the March quarter. So, while every advanced economy is going backwards, Australia is going forwards. It has the strongest growth amongst all of those advanced economies.

Today’s figures do show that economic stimulus payments have helped to cushion Australia from the global recession. Despite the further deterioration in the global economy, household consumption, as the Prime Minister said before, rose by 0.6 per cent in the March quarter. Without the cash stimulus payments which were made to pensioners, which were made to families, which were made to veterans, which were made to carers, Treasury estimate our economy would have contracted by around 0.2 per cent in the quarter. That is the difference that those opposite simply do not understand, because what that means is fewer jobs lost and thousands of families saved from the loss of a breadwinner. To us on this side of the House, that is what counts—supporting working families, supporting business and supporting demand in the economy precisely at the time that the global economy is contracting so sharply.

But of course, as the Prime Minister said before, we are not out of the woods yet. There is a rocky road ahead, and there are figures published today which point to that, so we have to be vigilant and we have to continue with the economic stimulus. We can see from the new business investment figures that new business investment fell by 6.3 per cent in the quarter as businesses have begun to scale back spending in the face of sharp falls in global demand and weaker profits. This reinforces the need for our nation-building investment in roads and rail and ports, clean energy and the shovel-ready projects which are going on now—35,000 right across the country, all supporting jobs, all supporting business, all supporting the Australian community. And, of course, we have got the impact of the collapse of the terms of trade. Global commodity prices have fallen by 7.8 per cent in the quarter. That is the largest quarterly decline in 35 years, and that has hit our export earnings hard. While volumes have held up, export earnings fell by $6 billion in the quarter. That is the third biggest fall on record.

So we know the full impacts of this global recession that has still got some way to run and that will continue to impact on employment at home. It will mean more jobs will be lost because of the global recession. But what we are doing here is putting in place phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 of the economic stimulus to support employment in the Australian economy. Today’s welcome figures bear that out. What we are doing is addressing the challenges that lie ahead for us by putting in place our battle plan for the economic stimulus, which is supporting Australian families at their time of need.