Page 881 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989
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Treasurer is seen for what he is - a fraud - and it is this fraud that has been effected not only on those buying their homes but also on those small businesses that are seeking funds to keep operating in an incredibly depressed market.
As my colleague Mr Stefaniak has said, it is the building industry and the whole economy that is affected by this bankrupt policy of the Federal Labor Government, and this industry provides the litmus test, if you like, for the strength of our economy. It is always the first to go; it is always the first to get into problems; and it is always the first to show that there are major problems in our economy.
When this industry falters, the small business operators find their businesses falling, as people lose their jobs or find the interest rate rise squeezing them out of consumer spending. The business operators are fighting even higher interest rates over and above those being paid by the long-suffering home owners. Rates such as 23 per cent are being sought by banks to enable businesses to continue operations.
It is a particular problem for those businesses struggling to establish themselves in Tuggeranong - or elsewhere in Canberra, for that matter. It is a problem particularly in Tuggeranong, because that is a developing area at the moment. It is unlikely that a new business, as we know, would be able to operate without some costs during its initial setting-up period. Put the high interest rates on top of this initial problem and you have a major concern. You have businesses going to the wall, as my colleague Mr Collaery has said - businesses being forced out of operations because of the high interest rates.
The suburbs of Tuggeranong are also the battleground for home owners struggling not only with high mortgage rates and monthly repayments but also with the cost of travel. Those of us who live in Tuggeranong know that all sorts of promises and suggestions of jobs that were part of the Federal Labor Government's ideas are not being made available to enable part-time work close to homes to be provided if families must send the wives out to work for that second income and, in the case of single-parent families, for the first income as well.
We in the Tuggeranong Valley are well aware that with the recent announcement of the office building and computer centre for the Department of Social Security it was the third time that Minister Kelly had announced the location of these new government offices. Hopefully it will be third time lucky. I am sure that those people out there who are looking for jobs in the construction industry and who seek to work in that area will see that is the case as well.
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