Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow Treasurer interjects. That's because they were higher than us. That's why they're coming down—but off a higher point, because inflation peaked higher and earlier in those economies.

But what we saw last week was the inflation rate with a two in front of it and the monthly rate going down to 2.1. I remember the March 2022 quarter where the quarterly figure was 2.1. So, in the last quarter in which those opposite were in office, it was 2.1, the same as an annual figure that was released last week. The four figures last week all came down—every indicator of inflation—and that is because of a range of measures, including the delivery of two budget surpluses, something that would be unrecognisable to those opposite. And bear this in mind. They promised before the 2013 election that they would deliver a surplus the first year and every year thereafter. One of the reasons why inflation was such a problem in Australia, as the COVID inquiry report confirmed, was the wasteful expenditure—giving $20 billion to companies that weren't seeing a decrease in their revenue, some of which were seeing an increase in their revenue. Now, the cash rate under the Leader of the Opposition as Assistant Treasurer was 6.75 per cent.

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