Fielding yet to commit to stimulus plan

9 Feb 2009, 6:56 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Key senator Steve Fielding has described talks with the government over its $42 billion stimulus package as "good" but he hasn't promised support for the plan.

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A key senator in this week's upper house vote on the government's $42 billion stimulus plan has described talks with Treasurer Wayne Swan as "good" but stopped short of promising his support.

The talks, between Family First senator Steve Fielding and the government, came as a Senate inquiry into the package continued.

Labor needs the support of Senator Fielding, independent Nick Xenophon and the five Australian Greens to push through its package because the coalition opposition has promised to vote against it.

"It was a good meeting and the treasurer was left in no doubt that I am determined to help those productive Australians who, within a year, will be without a job and without government support from this package and who will desperately need a lifeline," Senator Fielding said.

Further talks are scheduled.

The opposition has rejected the plan, which will see $12.7 billion doled out to taxpayers in one-off payments and $28.8 invested in infrastructure.

As predicted by Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, the coalition has taken a big hit in the latest Newspoll due to its stance.

Voters have given the government a big tick for economic management, with almost two-thirds saying it was doing a good job, and 57 per cent saying the package would be good for the economy.

Mr Turnbull's disapproval rating rose seven points to 38 per cent.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown believes the package can be improved and is refusing to guarantee his party will vote for it this week.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) swung its support behind the package during inquiry hearings on Monday.

"We consider it is (in) the national interest for those measures to be passed, and passed quickly, to avoid uncertainty and promote confidence," said ACCI director of industry policy and economics Greg Evans.

However, retailers said it was still unclear what impact last year's smaller $10.4 billion package, which included payments to pensioners and low-income earners, had on the economy.

While data released last week showed a jump in spending in December, Australian Retailers' Association (ARA) executive director Richard Evans said other factors were at work, such as heavy discounting and reductions in petrol prices and interest rates.

"Other surveys have indicated the bonus was used to reduce debt. This, in itself, is not a bad thing, but the entire supply channel needs cash and needs it now," he said.

"Indeed, there is something uncomfortable to us about taxpayer funds being used to reduce credit card debt."

Accountants group CPA Australia backed the opposition's call for the bringing forward of tax cuts that are due this year and next.

Its director of policy and research Paul Drum told the inquiry that while the International Monetary Fund had warned that tax cuts take time to filter through and are difficult to reverse, this was not the case in Australia.

He said the tax cuts in Australia were already built into the budget.

"There is a school of thought that many tax cuts are spent by taxpayers long before they even receive the money and, therefore, this would directly and immediately stimulate consumption," Mr Drum said.

Treasury Secretary Ken Henry and his Treasury team, as well as Finance Department officials, are due to return to the hearing on Monday evening after appearing last week.

In a submission to the inquiry, independent think-tank the Australian Institute said the package would do little to help the 300,000 people expected to join the dole queue in the next 16 months.

It said the government could get more bang for its buck by giving a $5,000 bonus to employers who take on previously unemployed people, raising unemployed allowances and creating 20,000 publicly funded jobs in the community sector.

"The government is right to focus on the need to stimulate the economy, but in deciding to provide one-off bonuses rather than invest in job creation, they have put politics ahead of policy," the institute's executive director Richard Denniss said.

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