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

Mr Speaker, we don't want to get that heavily rehearsed pointy finger again from the shadow Treasurer! The point that I'm making is: if the shadow Treasurer is angry about inflation with a '3' in front of it, he must be filthy about inflation with a '6' in front of it, which is what we inherited from those opposite. If he wants to talk about managing the budget, he should be honest enough to tell the Australian people from the dispatch box that the cumulative bottom lines in the budget are $215 billion better as a consequence of our economic management. And he should tell the Australian people about the $80 billion of debt interest that we're avoiding because we're paying down the Liberal debt we inherited. And he should be honest and say that inflation now is almost half what we inherited when he was a cabinet minister in the Morrison government.

We are under no illusions about the conditions in the economy right now. We've been very upfront about the weakness in the economy, the softness in the economy, laid bare by yesterday's national accounts. We know that people are under pressure as well. But more than acknowledging that, more than understanding that, we're acting on it, and we're acting on it despite the kind of nasty negativity and reflexive opposition we hear from those opposite. I mean, if those opposite were fair dinkum, they'd come to the dispatch box and they'd say to all those millions of Australians who are getting a tax cut because of us that they'd rather people didn't get it. And they'd come to the dispatch box and say they don't think people should get energy bill relief or help with their rent or cheaper medicines and all the other things they opposed.

So, the point that I made, and I come back very specifically to the question the shadow Treasurer asked, is that if you factor in the conditions that exist in the economy right now—in the national economy and indeed in household budgets as well—the approach that we're taking is very important, and it is calibrated for the conditions people are facing and the cost-of living pressures and other pressures they're under. Our responsible economic management is getting the budget in better nick, providing cost-of-living help and investing in the future—all the things they failed to do when they were in government. (Time expired)

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