Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I actually wasn't aware of that fact in relation to Dan Keighran. That is a very sad state of affairs. Dan Keighran is an Australian hero, and, whatever the physical place of those medals, nothing takes away the honour that has been bestowed upon Dan Keighran rightly and or changes the way in which our country should view him.

What I would say, in relation to the questions of cost of living, is this: since we've come to power, we have been utterly focused on the economy. We've come in here each and every day focused on the economy and focused on Australians and the challenges that they face in respect of cost of living. We get that Australians are doing it tough. The global pandemic and the aftermath of it, with disrupted supply chains and global crises, has seen inflation impacting countries around the world, and Australia has not been immune from that, which is why we have been utterly focused on that task at hand each and every day.

The most significant thing that we have done is fight inflation, and I'd remind the honourable member that the rate of inflation today is half of the rate that we inherited from those opposite. The truth is that what we inherited from those opposite was an absolute economic basket case. What we had was a Liberal government no less which gave this country a trillion dollars of debt with nothing to show for it. Headline inflation when those opposite left office was at 6.1 per cent. It is half of that today.

The most important thing we've been doing is fighting inflation through prudent economic management, and that has seen us deliver two surpluses—something that those opposite never did, despite the fact that they promised to the Australian people that they would be delivering a surplus each and every year. They were out there printing mugs around their achievements before they had actually made them. What we've done is printed surpluses which have had an impact on reducing the inflation rate and, in fighting inflation, that is now starting to succeed. And, where we have spent money, it has been focused on the cost of living—rental assistance and looking at ways in which we can have more affordable child care, cheaper medicines and energy rebates, most of which you opposed.

That is the record when it comes to the economy. We are focused on the economy. We are focused on Middle Australia. You are focused on everything else. (Time expired)

See this speech in context