Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Treasurer. What is the Albanese government doing to help Australians with the cost of living, and what obstacles are standing in their way?

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

Thanks very much to the member for Wills for his very important question. I think it's worth reminding people that, even with all of the progress that this government, under this Prime Minister, is making in the course of this final parliamentary fortnight across a range of really important legislative areas, what we've been able to do is maintain a primary, overwhelming focus on the cost of living and the fight against inflation. We saw out of the United Kingdom overnight just how important it is that we maintain this focus. What we saw from the United Kingdom last night is that inflation—both core and headline inflation—is going up in the United Kingdom.

What that means is that inflation is rising in the UK, the US, Canada and Europe at the same time as inflation is coming down here in Australia in welcome and encouraging ways.

Inflation has more than halved since we came to office. It's in the Reserve Bank's target range for the first time since 2021. But we know that there is more progress to be made. We know it's not mission accomplished on inflation. We know there's not always a direct correlation between the national economic data, which is going our way, and how people are feeling and faring in communities right around Australia. We acknowledge that and we recognise that.

We also know that people have got to make up a lot of lost ground. As I said before, real wages were falling substantially when we came to office. Inflation was much higher. Those opposite were going after Medicare and wages and all of the rest of it, so we've got to help people make up lost ground, and that's what we're doing. That's why the cost of living is our highest priority, and it's why it's so important that in the last four consecutive quarters we've had real wages growth in our economy. It's why it's so important we're rolling out the tax cuts and all of the other responsible cost of living relief that we're providing.

We know that those opposite are a risk to all of that, because we know their record. We know that when they were in office they came after people's wages and that we had low wages growth. We had falling real wages. We know they're a risk when it comes to price pressures, because inflation was more than twice what it is now on their watch. We know they're a risk, because they were running huge deficits and they had almost nothing to show for a trillion dollars in Liberal debt. And we know they're a risk because every time we've tried to help someone with the cost of living those opposite have tried to oppose it. They wanted an election over tax cuts for every taxpayer. They didn't want energy bill relief and all the rest of it.

That's why Australians would pay a very hefty price for the comical incompetence of the shadow Treasurer and the reckless arrogance of this opposition leader. If those opposite ever got their hands on government again, people would see the same attacks on Medicare, on wages and on cost-of-living help. They'd see the same deficits and the same higher inflation. We know that, because we saw that last time they were in office.