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

Those on the opposite side might not be interested in listening to the answer, but Australian families are, because in order to fix a problem you need to be upfront and honest about it. The key measure of ongoing inflation, the underlying weight of inflation, has risen to the highest level in 16 years. And so you should go quiet, senators opposite; you should go quiet. Inflationary pressures have been building in our economy for some time and they are now manifesting across a broad range of goods and services. The CPI has risen by nine per cent over the last three years, but fruit and vegetables have gone up 20 per cent, child care has gone—