Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Budget is a range of decisions—hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions that work together. And the focus of the ERC has been very clearly to make investments where we can, to make a sensible cost-of-living relief package where we can find room to do so and to not have those measures add to inflation. We have been consistent across that from the beginning of putting this budget together to the release of this budget. It has been front and centre of our thinking, but we have had to accept that there is a need to provide some sensible, modest investments where we can afford to do so. You see those in the cost-of-living package. Where we can find room to support other investments like Medicare to make sure that bulk billing continues on, then we've made that as well. The Treasury advice was very clear. It cannot be clearer. Look forward to exploring this in estimates: that the decisions taken in this budget are not inflationary and they are reflected in the inflation forecasts in the budget. (Time expired)