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

The point I'm making is that, more than acknowledging that people are doing it tough, we're doing something about it. This side of the parliament is trying to help people doing it tough. That side of the parliament would harm people with $315 billion in secret cuts to Medicare, pensions and payments, and that would be a recipe for recession. If they had their way, Australia would be in recession, wages would be lower and there'd be no help with the cost of living. We make no apology for taking a different approach. We are maintaining a primary focus on the fight against inflation. That's one of the reasons why it's halved since the year that we were elected. It's why we've got the budget in better nick. It's why we're rolling out meaningful and substantial cost-of-living help in the most responsible way we can. The most irresponsible thing that we could be doing right now is pulling hundreds of billions of dollars out of the economy, as those opposite want to do. They should come clean on their cuts so that people know the choice.

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