Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Last week, the RBA said:

… Public demand is forecast to be stronger than previously expected, reflecting recent public spending announcements by federal and state and territory governments …

The Prime Minister dismissed this, claiming, 'That's not what they've said.' Why is the Prime Minister in denial that Labor's spending is causing homegrown inflation and keeping interest rates higher for longer?

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

I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for her question. This is what the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said last Thursday in Armidale:

… governments have a job to do and I have a job to do. My job and the Reserve Bank's job is to get inflation down. The governments have a different job. Their job is also to get inflation down, and they acknowledge that, but it's also to provide services and infrastructure for the Australian people. So, they need to do that at the same time as they need to focus on keeping inflation down …

That's precisely what we're doing. It's also consistent with what the governor told estimates in May, where she said:

… fiscal policy has been running a surplus for the last couple of years, so I'd say that has been helping the … inflation situation, if anything …

I know for those opposite, a budget surplus is something that is foreign to them.

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

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

You may as well be talking in a different language. They promised a surplus in their first year and every year thereafter, and they produced none. None! We turned a $78 billion Liberal deficit into a $22 billion surplus and then backed it up with a second surplus—that's on its way.

This is also what Michele Bullock, the RBA governor, had to say about inflation: 'Inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022.' On 6 August, last week, she spoke about international experience: 'We've seen from overseas experience how bumpy inflation can be on the way down and across the economy.' She's been very, very consistent, and we have been consistent. We have been making sure that we do continue to have inflationary pressure put down—

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

The member for Fisher will cease interjecting.

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

which is why we have halved it since we came to office. At the same time, we're not leaving people behind. We've given tax cuts to every Australian, something that the questioner here, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, said they would roll back. We await the Deputy Leader of the Opposition saying, during the election campaign, when it will be rolled back. When are you going to roll it back? That's what we want to know. So get ready for whenever it's called; you stand up there and you say that you're going to roll back the tax cuts that we put in place, in order to support your ideological position, which is simply inconsistent— (Time expired)