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

Thanks very much to the shadow Treasurer for a very similar question, that I answered comprehensively a moment ago. It usually takes the shadow Treasurer a bit longer than the rest of us, so let me go through it once again. First of all, any objective observer of the economy understands the combination of global economic uncertainty, persistent inflation and higher interest rates is slowing our economy—in our case, quite considerably. That's a point that I've been making since at least June of this year. That's the first point.

The second point is that, when it comes to taking responsibility for our part in the fight against inflation, I do. I've said that not just earlier today but on a number of occasions, and I mean it. I take responsibility for the fact that, when we came to office and there were deficits as far as the eye could see, and there was a trillion dollars in Liberal debt and not enough to show for it—

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