Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We were elected to take on some of the big challenges facing our economy and facing our country. Inflation is the No. 1 economic challenge in 2023. It was in 2022. That's why addressing inflation is the government's main focus through our three-point plan to provide responsible cost-of-living relief, repair our supply chains and show appropriate spending restraint in a responsible budget. That is the best way to go about this hard task.

As the Reserve Bank said on Friday, and as the Prime Minister said a moment ago, we are taking some of the pressure off inflation through our three-point plan to address the challenges in our economy. The Reserve Bank made it clear that somewhere between half and three-quarters of the inflation in our economy comes from the supply side. A lot of that is global, but a lot of it, as well, is the consequence of a wasted decade, where those opposite left neglected for too long too many of our economic challenges. Australians are now paying a very hefty price for the failure of those opposite to manage the economy well over the course of the last decade.

We see that in the energy market, with a lack of investment in cleaner, cheaper, more reliable energy. We see that in the labour market, with a lack of investment in skills and training. We see it as well in the housing market, with not enough done over a decade to boost housing supply in our economy. They racked up $1 trillion in debt and still did almost nothing about housing supply in our economy.

Honourable members interjecting—

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