"Most of the stimulus was actually spent well after the GFC had passed"
This is where many here, and out there amongst the coalition ranks, have failed miserably to understand the impacts of the Global Financial Crisis. It is suffice to say the GFC is not a 5 minute affair.
It is unreal that some here are still going on about the merits of the government's stimulus economic packages which had worked well in cushioning Australia from the impacts of the GFC.
I do not believe the coalition, if it had been in government, would have done what the Labor government had done, spending BIG to stimulate economy. This is a serious issue, 'cause it comes down to the integrity of the coalition. The coalition attempted to block the government's stimulus packages in the Senate. I think Joe Hockey was quoted to have said that the stimulus package was unnecessary; he said this not during the GFC, but well after that. he or it might have been Abbott who was quoted to have said that the GFC was not as bad as everyone was saying (or words to that effect). So, tell me, how can we deduce from comments such as this to extrapolate that the coalition would have done the same thing if it had been in government. Under them, many jobs would have been lost, many small businesses would have closed their doors.
Tony Abbott and his shadow ministers were out there day in day out talking down the economy, knocking the economy. There was no excuse for their behaviour at a time when Australia, and the world, were facing one of the greatest global financial crisis.
