Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

You might say that, Senator, but this is what the Treasury spokesperson for the Liberal Party is saying. I recently visited Fletcher Insulation down in Melbourne, and I have to say that that is a factory that is booming. Before the announcement was made in the nation-building and jobs package, they were at 2½ shifts. They are now at four shifts. They are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to produce insulation batts for families and the community. These are jobs. They have put on an extra 15 workers. They are spending an extra $8 million to $9 million on investment and will benefit from the small business investment changes that the government made, also in the stimulus package. This is a program that the coalition wants to abolish.

On top of that there is the schools program. Obviously the Liberal senators have not spent much time getting out to the local schools. They have not been speaking to principals. They have not been speaking to P&Cs.