The $10.4 billion stimulus plan is either going to kick-start the economy as supporters extol or the current economic malaise will continue with half the surplus lost.

The unfortunate reality is we will soon know who is right or who is wrong when the effects of this package are seen next year. Australia's path will either be the same or worse as that of the global economy in which case the package didn't work or, as I hope but doubt, Australia's economic path will be better in which case I accept that I am wrong.

A clear indication of the effectiveness of this fiscal stimulus package on the economy was seen in the stock market on the day of 16 October 2008, the day of the announcement, where the market weakened by 6.6%. Therefore the market has factored in zero effect of this package on our Nation's economy. Our market is determined by the US market and we look to the US to provide the corner to turn this situation around. Our funds cover our economic rear end while we wait for this event to occur.

Where is the Government's evidence from Treasury on the efficacy of this package? How can we possibly endorse spending half the Nation's surplus without sighting evidence that suggests the Government has done its homework? What Parliament would ask for in excess of $10 billion in one package without even a one-pager from Treasury outlining why it was required, how was it calculated and how should it be spent?

Yes there was bipartisan agreement there should be a package. We agree that we should give the economy a protective paint, but what we have had suggested to us is hot pink and turquoise in tiger stripes to reflect the mood of the Labor Party thought bubble that came up with this idea.

The package is a fiscal stimulus and handing it to people in a lump sum prior to Christmas, suggests the Government wants it spent rather than banked. This will have a narrow casting effect on a specific segment of the economy, the retail sector, over a very short period, Christmas.

The hard reality is that Australia cannot kick-start the current world economy. However, we can definitely exacerbate our own domestic conditions in the future by squandering our savings. Unemployment is today a global reality, with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) predicting an increase to 210 million in the number of worldwide unemployed by late 2009. Why then are we spending now the support for those Australians who in the future may be out of work?

Half the Nation's surplus, which took years to accrue, has been appropriated in one aggressive package. The nature of the economy means that to corral those funds again, without increasing taxes, is impossible in this climate. The alternative requires us to access credit by a budget deficit in a global economy that is suffering huge uncertainties in credit availability.

If you invest in real assets such as inland rail, ports, water infrastructure, power, hospitals or an equity partnership in other commercial ventures, you stimulate the economy from the investment and the public has an asset to sell for future alternate public spending requirements.

The current issue of fortnightly pension has not changed. The fortnightly pension payment, insufficient before this package was announced, is the same insufficient fortnightly pension payment after this package.

An Australian Christmas splurge will not reboot the world economy. It's all in the detail.

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