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

I'll ignore the rhetoric in that question from the shadow Treasurer. We came to office in 2022 with a number of challenges that we were facing. Global economic uncertainty was there, and a worldwide surge in inflation and energy prices. Inflation, when we came to office, had a six in front of it and was rising. Productivity was going backwards. Wages were going backwards, in real wages—and that was a deliberate design, of course, from the former government. Interest rates began to rise on the former government's watch as well. When it came to energy prices, we know that the person who asked the question hid the fact that there was a considerable increase on the way. We had TAFE and skills hollowed out. We had housing shortages. We had aged care at near breaking point—a crisis in aged care. We had bulk billing degraded.

These are the challenges that we've had to face—the mess that we've worked to clean up. Now, instead of a six in front of it and rising, inflation has a two in front of it and is falling. Now, a million jobs have been created on our watch; the gender pay gap is at a record low; we have back-to-back budget surpluses for the first time in nearly two decades; and, instead of a $78 billion deficit, which was projected by those opposite, we've delivered a $22 billion surplus followed by a $15 billion surplus, making sure that we made a difference in putting that downward pressure on inflation.

At the same time, we had cost-of-living relief, all of which was opposed by those opposite. Whether it be energy bill relief, cheaper medicines, free TAFE, cheaper child care or a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, they were all opposed by those opposite—all opposed. Certainly if they had had their way, this reckless and arrogant opposition, things would have been worse. Things would have. People would have been in a much more difficult position if they didn't have their wages going up, their costs going down and inflation coming back to where it should be.

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