Canberra moved fast to preserve jobs

SYDNEY: The federal Government acted early to fund infrastructure because it knew construction jobs would be hit hard by the global financial crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday.

A study commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, predicts more than 80,000 jobs could be lost in the sector during the next three years.

Apprentice numbers would fall by 10 per cent as the sector experienced the most severe impact in 2009-10 and 2010-11, followed by some consolidation in 2011-12, the study by Access Economics estimates.

"One of the reasons that the Australian Government acted decisively and early to provide economic stimulus, particularly in the form of new infrastructure, is we knew in the construction sector that the private sector would be in retreat," said Gillard.

"That's what all of the information was telling us, the global recession would hit construction jobs hard.

"So, in those circumstances we moved early to create new construction opportunities."

She said the Government's A$14.7 billion ($18.85 billion) Building the Education Revolution programme aimed to build tomorrow's infrastructure to support today's jobs.

"So we understand that this is an industry that needed economic stimulus. That economic stimulus is being rolled out."

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the construction sector was inherently cyclical.

"So you can create these numbers depending on what you use as your baseline," he said.

- AAP