Gillard stresses local relevance of US crisis

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has highlighted the seriousness of the United States financial crisis, warning that Australia is not immune to financial turbulence overseas.

The US Treasury is currently debating an $840 billion rescue package, funded by taxpayers and designed to lure investors back into the struggling market.

Ms Gillard says the situation in the US has serious implications for the domestic economy.

"What it means for us is, we as a Government have to take a prudent approach to economic management," she said.

'Not immune'

Ms Gillard says the Federal Government's proposed budget measures aim to keep a reign on the domestic economy.

"The point that we have been making is that we are in different circumstances here," she said.

"We are not immune from global credit markets but we have a strong well regulated financial sector and that puts us into a different position as the United States where the subprime mortgage issue has just been so huge."

But Ms Gillard says the Opposition is being irresponsible and are "standing in the way" of important budget measures.

"We inherited a domestic inflation challenge with inflation running at 16-year highs," she said.

"In uncertain economic times globally, the last thing we can afford is uncertain budget spendings at home."

Related:

Wall Street crisis: Poor to bail out the rich again “Rich people got it good in this country”, said African-American comedian Wanda Sykes on the September 24 Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “We refuse to let them not be rich. Think about it. Broke people are about to bailout rich people. This is what is going on.”

THEY WANT MAMA TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER! Rep Kaptur 'Rep. Marcy Kaptur gets it right — sort of. Wall Street and the banksters are not irresponsible, as she claims, they are criminals who methodically plotted to loot as much money as they could from the markets and then turn the corpse over to the American people, who they know will be obliged to pay for the damages.'

Bailouts Will Push US into Depression
Infowars.com 'The end result of the global economic slowdown may be the U.S. announcing national bankruptcy as the government cannot afford the bailouts that it promised and the market will not bail out the government, Martin Hennecke, senior manager of private clients at Tyche, told CNBC on Thursday.'

Democrats, Republicans conspire to remove Wall Street bailout from election campaign Closed-door talks continued throughout the day Friday between congressional Democratic and Republican leaders and the Bush administration, with all sides pledging to reach agreement on terms of a $700 billion bailout package for the US financial system before the Asian stock markets open Monday morning—Sunday afternoon in the US.

Biggest US bank failure ever
Another US banking giant fell Thursday, with the government seizure of Washington Mutual and the purchase of its operations and assets by JPMorgan Chase.

Upwardly immobile: mortgage stress bites
Reserve Bank statistics do not begin to tell the real story of housing stress in Sydney's western suburbs, according to financial counsellor Mike Young.

Households give up three years of gains
AUSTRALIAN households have been hit so hard this year that their financial gains of the past three years have been wiped out, a Reserve Bank report has found.

Rental rage surges in Sydney
One in three real estate agents have been threatened or abused by people frustrated at Sydney's rental shortage, a survey has found.

Qld has highest homeless rate in Australia
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show Queensland has the highest homeless population in Australia.

More homeless seeking help: report
A new report shows there has been a substantial increase in the number of homeless Australians seeking government help.

Housing rents surge in Sydney
RENTS for houses across Sydney surged 8 per cent in the three months to June, driven by landlords facing higher mortgage rates.

First mortgages doubled in a decade: ABS
The amount first home buyers borrowed to make their housing purchase doubled in the 10 years to 2005-06, new statistics show.

Housing crisis forcing people to sleep rough
A Wesley Mission study found 71 per cent of respondents identified the housing crisis as the major reason for them becoming homeless. Of those, 88 per cent said accumulated debt and unexpected financial crisis were factors.

Funding fall 'locks workers out of housing'
People who cannot afford to rent or buy suitable homes have been locked out of public housing because of a drastic fall in national funding, a Sydney conference has heard.

Renters must pay for their own evictions
SYDNEY renters have plenty to gripe about. Not only are their rents soaring but they are also funding the legal machinery used by landlords to evict them.

NSW feels the deepest jobs cut
MORE than 17,000 NSW workers left or lost their jobs last month in the worst labour market reading in years, fuelling fears the state will suffer the brunt of the coming economic slowdown.

Welfare services under strain: survey
The number of people accessing community services is on the rise, a new survey shows.

Report warns new wave of homelessness
State and federal governments are being warned of a new wave of homelessness threatening disadvantaged families.

When pain persists, they arrive
People are still angry when they lose their houses, but he notices that "people nowadays seem to think, when they take a loan, that it's a risk and that if they take the loan they might end up losing their house".

'No warning' about Beechwood collapse
The New South Wales Government says it had no warning one of the state's largest building companies was about to collapse, despite receiving more than 100 complaints over three years.

Housing crisis is real: industry
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) says new research highlights the seriousness of Australia's housing crisis.