Stimulus package “working:” Government Report

The Federal government does not accept that its stimulus measures are being “swamped” by the global credit crisis.

Its response to that charge, made by building industry leaders, is set out in a report published yesterday.

The government report covered the first quarter of the government’s $42 billion nation building economic stimulus plan.

It concludes that while the plan is still “far from complete” there has been “significant progress.”

Some 33,000 projects have already been approved under the plan.

These are worth more than $18 billion.

“Some elements of the plan are achieving their objectives at lower than the expected costs,” the report says.

Others have been doing so faster than anticipated.

“…other elements have experienced exceptional demand.”

The report said these included work on the Primary School program, which is part of the plan.

It said the government had already made strategic adjustments to the plan in reponse to emerging issues.

And it conceded that there are risks with the plan, including possible inflationary pressures.

The report said these, too, need to be managed.

“A particular challenge will be to manage industry capacity and supply constraint risks,” the report said.

There was independent confirmation, too, yesterday that the government’s stimulus plans are working.

The Roy Morgan organisation, for example,  reported that consumer confidence in Australia rose by 1.1 points, in its latest survey, to 123.7 points.  That was its highest level since December 2007.