Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What progress has the Albanese Labor government made on the major economic challenges it inherited, and what does this mean for the budget in May?

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

What an absolute champion the member for Tangney is. I appreciate the question. When we came to office, inflation was high and accelerating, real wages were falling, interest rates were already rising, there were huge deficits and there was more than $1 trillion in Liberal debt. Under this government now, this Labor government, inflation is moderating, real wages are growing again, the budget was in surplus last year and there is less debt, which costs us less to service. By the time the Reserve Bank board next meets, it will have been six months without an interest rate hike. There is energy bill relief, there is cheaper child care, there are cheaper medicines, there's more help with rent, and every taxpayer gets a tax cut on 1 July.

They don't like hearing it, but here are the facts, as the Prime Minister just said a moment ago: quarterly inflation under them, 2.1, and under us 0.6; monthly inflation under them , 6.1, and under us 3.4; average annualised quarterly wages growth under them, a bit over two per cent, and under us four per cent. Real wages—

Come in spinner! Come in shadow Treasurer! What have real wages done, he asks? What have real wages done? Under those opposite, real wages were negative 3.4 per cent, and now they're growing again, under this Labor government and under this Labor Prime Minister.

Keep on chirping away, Sunshine! Ask me about real wages. We turned a $78 billion deficit into a $22 billion surplus, and we turned gross debt from 45 per cent of our economy into something closer to 35 per cent of our economy. That's why our responsible economic management has been backed in by the IMF, the OECD, the ratings agencies and the Reserve Bank governor, who said yesterday that monetary policy and fiscal policy are pushing in the same direction.

We know that despite the progress we're making people are under pressure. We know the economy is slowing, and we know there's global economic uncertainty. These are the three things which will define and determine our choices in the budget we hand down in May. That budget will be all about relief, repair and reform—cost-of-living relief, budget repair and reform of our economy to boost investment and grow our economy as well. We know that continuing to strike the right and responsible balance between relief, repair and reform is key to ensuring that our people earn more and keep more of what they earn.

We also know that those opposite have not learned a thing from a decade of economic mismanagement which gave us staggered wages, higher inflation, bigger deficits and much more debt. We know they haven't learned from it because almost two years into opposition they still don't have an alternative plan for the cost of living and they still want Australians working longer for less.

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

Order! The member for Bowman. The Treasurer will cease interjecting. The member for Hume is going to be warned soon. I know you're responding, but don't take the bait. The member for Bowman is continually interjecting. He is now warned. So, no more interjections from the member for Bowman.