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

My question is to the Treasurer. Independent economist Chris Richardson said last week's RBA statement was about as clear as they can be: there is extra budget spending in the system which is fuelling inflation. But the Treasurer said last week, 'I don't think that's what the statement says.' When will the Treasurer cut the spin and take responsibility for decisions that are driving up his homegrown inflation?

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

I take responsibility for the decisions that we've made in our budget and I do that proudly. I take responsibility for the cost-of-living help that they don't support. I take responsibility for the responsible economic management which is completely foreign to them. I take responsibility for the surpluses that we have delivered that they weren't capable of delivering in nine attempts.

Now, if the shadow Treasurer knew what he was talking about, he would know that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, as the Prime Minister said a moment ago, has said very clearly, 'My personal view is that they're doing what they can in this area.' I think that the Governor of the Reserve Bank saying that we are doing what we can with our surpluses and the way we've designed our cost-of-living help is an important thing to factor in. You can't believe a word that the shadow Treasurer says about this.

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

To pick up the bizarre logic of the shadow Treasurer: first of all, obviously, a net additional spend of $10 billion this year is not the primary determinant of prices in a $2.6 trillion economy. I shouldn't have to explain that to the shadow Treasurer. But, even if we accepted that point, by the shadow Treasurer's bizarre logic about that $10 billion additional spend, which is a fraction of the additional spend that they had in 2022, he is taking responsibility. When inflation was higher and rising faster, those opposite spent more in their last budget.

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

The Treasurer will pause. The member for Hume on a point of order?

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

Relevance. The question was about the Treasurer's hopeless decisions that are driving up—

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

Resume your seat. The Treasurer was asked about the RBA statement and about—

Order! Don't talk over me when I'm dealing with your point of order. Trust me; you won't be here to hear the answer. The Treasurer was asked about taking responsibility regarding the issue of inflation, so he is being directly relevant. I'm going to listen carefully to him to make sure that he is being relevant to the question. The Treasurer has the call.

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

We've turned two big Liberal deficits into two big Labor surpluses. We've designed our cost-of-living relief to put downward pressure on inflation, not upward pressure, and we are providing the responsible economic management that they were incapable of delivering in nine years in office.

We know what's really going on here. What's really going on here is that the shadow Treasurer was disappointed and embarrassed last week because he desperately wants interest rates to go up, and they didn't. He desperately wanted underlying inflation the week before that to go up, and instead it went down. While the rest of Australia was cheering for our Olympians, he was cheering for high interest rates and more pain. He wants higher inflation and he wants higher interest rates, because he doesn't want anyone to notice that, in the third year of a three-year term, he still doesn't have any costed or credible economic policies. He still won't come clean on the $315 billion in cuts that he says the economy needs. He still won't tell people what that means for Medicare, for pensions or for the economy more broadly.

On this side of the House, we acknowledge that people are doing it tough. We are helping with the cost of living, we are repairing the budget and we are making our economy more resilient at the same time. Those opposite did none of those things. (Time expired)

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

Order! The member for Hume is warned!