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

Thanks to the wonderful member for Macquarie for her question. I haven't had a question from the shadow Treasurer since November, so it's nice to get one from anywhere I can get it!

We've got a lot going for us in our country and in our economy. We're getting good prices for our exports. We're seeing the welcome beginnings of wages growth in our economy. And unemployment has got a '3' in front of it, and that's important. There are new numbers out today—unemployment with a '3' in front of it. But, as we all know—certainly on this side of the House we understand—inflation is the biggest threat to our economy, because it's putting pressure on families, pensioners and small businesses in every community, in every corner of this country. We know from the Reserve Bank governor that at least half, and as much as three-quarters, of the inflation in our economy actually comes from supply-side pressures, pressures in our supply chains and in our workforces. Much of that has global origins, of course, and it's beyond our control, but some of it stems from a decade-long failure to deal with these growing challenges, and Australians are now paying a really hefty price for the economic mismanagement that this country has endured for the best part of a decade.

So it's no coincidence that a key feature of our economic plan is about repairing these broken supply chains. It's a direct and deliberate response to the problems that were left to gather and grow larger over that wasted decade that we've been through. On this side of the House, in response to these economic challenges, we said we'd deliver a National Reconstruction Fund to create more opportunities and to fix our supply chains and make them more resilient, and that's exactly what we're trying to do. We said we'd tackle our housing affordability and supply problems with the Housing Australia Future Fund, and we're doing that as well. We said we'd invest in cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy, and we're doing that too. We said we would clean up the mess that they left us, and that's what we're trying to do.

Before the parliament there are a number of bills which go right to the core of the economic plan that all the objective observers in this country think is the right way to come at this inflation challenge in our economy, and those opposite, true to form, are voting against them. When they vote no to the National Reconstruction Fund or the Housing Australia Future Fund or cleaner and cheaper energy, they are voting for broken supply chains, for fewer affordable homes, for even higher energy bills. In saying no to all these things, they are saying yes to higher inflation for even longer, when inflation is punishing our families and pensioners and small businesses.

I think Australians understand who is working hard on their behalf to address the inflation challenge in our economy, and they know for sure who is hell-bent on keeping inflation higher for longer with this ridiculous, pig-headed approach to the legislation before the House.

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