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CANBERRA - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's A$42 billion ($53.27 billion) amphetamine shot to the Australian economy now appears likely to hit a Senate block that would delay - at best - cash payouts to millions of Australian workers and their families.
The Opposition yesterday took the dangerous political gamble of opposing the package as its enabling legislation entered Parliament, declaring that while the move would not be popular, it was necessary.
"We are now going back into debt, and we are heading for a higher level of debt than the A$96 billion the Coalition inherited from (former Labor Prime Minister) Paul Keating in 1996," Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said.
The seven minor party and independent senators the Government now needs to push the legislation through the Upper House have indicated they want sufficient time to examine and debate the package.
If they insist, the legislation will miss Rudd's deadline of tomorrow, holding back payments of up to A$950 each for low- and middle-income earners, and billions of dollars earmarked for major job-creating projects and tax incentives for companies to keep employees on their payrolls.
The five Greens senators, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and Independent Nick Xenophon have accepted in principle the need for a hefty economic stimulus to help bolster Australia against the global financial crisis, and have not so far indicated they will oppose the package.
But the Greens are demanding more time to debate specific measures, and Fielding and Xenophon want an urgent Senate inquiry that would include evidence from key Government advisers.
Treasurer Wayne Swan told ABC radio the legislation needed to be passed by tomorrow to allow cash to start flowing within two weeks through the federal social welfare agency Centrelink, and the Taxation Department.
"The Centrelink CEO and the Commissioner of Taxation have both indicated to the Government that it is their very strong preference, if we are to deliver these payments in a timely way, for that legislation to be passed this week," he said.
"So this is not something that the Government has a choice in."
Rudd used Parliament yesterday to lash Turnbull, who had earlier pledged to work with the Government in framing an economic stimulus.
He said Turnbull had acted with "rank political expediency" by opposing the package. "Either you act and Government intervenes to help stabilise financial markets, to help increase growth, to help support jobs and to help families deal with the consequences, or you vacate the field as recommended by the Liberal Party," he said.
"This Liberal Party is out of touch with mums' and dads' basic needs right across the country."
Rudd had earlier said the price of Turnbull's rejection of the plan would not be paid by merchant bankers - a reference to the multi-millionaire Opposition Leader's previous career - but by families and tradespeople who would be denied jobs to replace those lost in mining and construction.
Turnbull has calculated that most Australians would be frightened by the series of A$30 billion budget deficits that would follow the package, and is positioning the Opposition as a prudent financial manager safeguarding the prosperity of future generations.
But the package has been welcomed - with some reservations - by unions, welfare groups and business, and by most economic commentators and major newspaper editorials.
Internet polling has shown mixed results. A poll on the Fairfax site www.smh.com.au late yesterday gave Rudd support of 59 per cent against 33 per cent for Turnbull, while another on www.news.com.au had 49 per cent for Rudd and 44 per cent for Turnbull.
The Opposition Leader was unshaken by Government attacks, labelling Rudd "vain" and "arrogant".
He said it was an insult for Rudd to present a A$42 billion spending package that would reverse a A$22 billion surplus to a A$22 billion deficit within nine months. "We are going to see an additional A$111 billion to our national debt as a result of these measures."
