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

The point I'm making is that last week both headline inflation and underlying inflation went down, and, in the forecasts the Reserve Bank released this week, they have lowered their forecasts for both important measures of inflation. The fact that today marks one year exactly since interest rates last went up reflects the progress that we are making when it comes to inflation. This fight against inflation is our No. 1 focus, and the Governor of the Reserve Bank again acknowledged that today when she said—and I'm quoting—'I think the attitude at the moment that I'm hearing from government is the right one.' This is the same governor who said our surpluses are helping and our cost-of-living relief will help.

I say to those opposite: stop trying to diminish what Australians have achieved together in our economy under this Prime Minister and under his government: inflation halved, real wages growing again, a million new jobs, tax cuts for every taxpayer, two surpluses, and less debt. We're not yet there, but we have made a lot of welcome progress. We know that the opposition leader is a risk to this progress, because we know his record: gutting Medicare, pushing wages down and pushing prices up. These are the costs of his reckless arrogance. His reckless arrogance will have real costs for ordinary people who are doing it tough enough and would be doing it tougher without our help.

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