Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Coonan for her question. On this side of the chamber we have a degree of optimism about the Australian economic future. As we have seen from today’s welcome unemployment statistics, we are coming into our 17th year of economic growth. But what senators should be aware of is that there are significant challenges on the horizon: the volatility of international markets and the threat of extended and elevated inflation. The biggest challenge facing this country is inflation.

The former government sat on its hands and ignored many, many Reserve Bank warnings—and I would like to go through them: on 7 February 2005, the RBA warned about upward pressure on inflation; on 2 March 2005, they raised rates; on 17 February 2006, the Governor warned again of upward pressure on inflation; on 3 May 2006, they raised rates; on 2 August 2006, they raised rates; on 4 August, the bank warned of an upward shift in inflation; on 18 August, they warned of further rate rises; and it goes on and on and on.

For the former government, which completely lost touch with the concerns of ordinary Australians, to come into this chamber and start crying about rising petrol prices, when the former government refused—