Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What economic conditions and pressures are confronting Australia as the government works to finalise its second budget in May?

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

As the member for Werriwa and other honourable members know, volatility in global financial markets, brought about by rapidly rising interest rates around the world, is having an impact on our economy and on all of the major advanced economies around the world. We have been engaging with APRA, ASIC, the RBA, Treasury and the banks, and their advice is that our institutions are well capitalised and well regulated, and that we are well placed to deal with the volatility that is coming at us. What we're seeing on global markets is feeding into some uncertainty in the global economy, which is now tempering some of the slightly more upbeat forecasts that we had been seeing for the advanced economies.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hume will cease interjecting.

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

The pressures that are coming at us from around the world are being felt around the kitchen tables of this country. At a time when the medium-term pressures on our budget are intensifying rather than easing, and when our predecessors left key programs, like the My Health Record program, completely unfunded beyond the middle of this year, it's more important than ever that this is a responsible budget in May. It will build on the substantial restraint we showed in October as well.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are a sad political hack.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Treasurer will resume his seat. The member for Hume will withdraw that comment.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. The Treasurer has the call.

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

That restraint that was showed in October is best represented by the fact that we returned 99 per cent for two years of the upward revenue revisions. The previous government averaged 40 per cent and the Howard government averaged 30 per cent. We had payments falling in real terms over the next two years; the previous government averaged 2.6 per cent real spending growth before the pandemic. We had payments growing in nominal terms by an average annual rate of 4.3 compared to 5.9 under our predecessors. Most importantly, we found $22 billion in savings in the March budget.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Groom.

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

The last budget from those opposite delivered precisely zero dollars in savings. That's the sort of restraint that we showed in the October budget, and we'll see it again in the May budget. For all of these reasons, the Governor of the Reserve Bank made it clear in the middle of February that we aren't adding to inflationary pressures in our economy. If anything, we're actually moderating inflation with our energy price plan.

We have a lot going for us in this country but we have got a lot coming at us as well. The budget in May, like the budget in October, will have common elements: the combination of near-term and longer-term priorities; the best combination of relief, repair and restraint; and a premium on the quality of spending, not just the quantity of spending so that we can continue to invest in our people and their futures and clean up the mess that we were left by those opposite.