Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on recent inflation data and the importance of responsible budgeting in the current inflationary environment?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Responsible economic management is central to the fight against inflation. We have some data that came out today from TD—their monthly inflation gauge—and this is what they had to say:

Inflation remains the most pressing issue facing Australian policy makers.

We on this side of the House understand that. We understand that responsible budgeting and investment in the future is needed to fight inflation. That is why we did deliver a responsible budget—a budget that cut back spending, a budget that began the vital task of investing in the future and addressing the capacity constraints that are putting upward pressure on inflation after years and years of neglect.

The opposition on the other hand are content to try and blow a $22 billion hole in the surplus thereby putting further upward pressure on inflation and further upward pressure on interest rates. This is what the shadow Treasurer had to say on the Sunday program, just after the budget:

Mr Oakes: There is not a single suggestion in Dr Nelson’s speech of a saving.

Mr Turnbull: ... that’s true. There is no suggestion of a saving there, that’s right ...

And, of course, it is right. They have no credibility in this House when they pout around with supposed alternatives, because they cannot make a budget add up. The shadow Treasurer has had a bit more to say. This is what he said last week:

We recognise there is an overall impact on the budget, and that is something that we … take into account.

How can you take it into account if you do not cost your policies? You cannot do it. The shadow Treasurer and the Leader of the Opposition are blowing a very big hole in the Liberal Party’s economic credibility, and it is nothing more than a smoking ruin.