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

Thanks to the honourable member for his question. Since the parliament last sat, we got inflation data which showed that underlying inflation, monthly inflation and non-tradeable inflation all continue to moderate. We also got new numbers last week in the national accounts. What that showed is that the economy barely grew in the June quarter—0.2 per cent and one per cent through the year. That is the slowest growth in our economy since 2020. The basic story of the national accounts was that weaknesses in the household part of the national accounts and private investment were offset by exports and public final demand.

The weakness in our economy is the inevitable consequence of three things: firstly, global economic uncertainty; secondly, persistent price pressures in our economy; and, thirdly, the impact of higher interest rates on our economy. The main take-out was that consumption is going backwards in our economy right now, discretionary spending fell substantially and household saving is very low. These are all signs, as we know—or at least this side of the House understands—that people are doing it tough, and that's why our cost-of-living help is so important and why it's so important that household incomes grew in the most recent numbers.

As I said earlier, those opposite don't support cost-of-living help. They want higher interest rates. They want a recession for political reasons, and they were very disappointed when they didn't get one.

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