Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question which goes to inflation. It is true that inflation is a global phenomenon that has arisen post COVID because of supply chain issues that occurred during the global pandemic and then were exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The previous question I was asked, which was a mature question from the member for Curtin seeking to contribute to the policy debate, was about the Inflation Reduction Act. It's called the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States because there's higher inflation there than before the pandemic and, I must say, than there is here as well in Australia. In a global economy, we are not immune to the global impact of inflation. For those opposite, who like to profess themselves as free market capitalists, to not understand that is quite extraordinary. Perhaps they're arguing that we should have a completely closed economy, Soviet style, that doesn't link up with global markets and global economic trends because that is essentially the assumption behind the direction the questions are going.

Fortunately in Australia, we have some structures—thanks in part to the reforms of the Hawke and Keating government—that do ensure that we're connected with the global economy. The RBA governor had this to say just last week:

Most advanced economies are in a similar position to Australia, and have responded with higher interest rates, in some cases to a level substantially higher than that in Australia.

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Our assessment is that inflation is likely to have peaked around the end of 2022 and will now start declining.

Those opposite don't have to believe the Reserve Bank governor if they are against him these days but they perhaps can listen to the Leader of the Opposition, who had this to say in May 2022:

Nobody wants to see interest rates go up, but it's a reality of a world where there's inflation.

Did you note that term—'a world where there's inflation'? Australia lives in that world. Apparently, those opposite live in a different one.

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