Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting this motion. Labor's budget does next to nothing to fight inflation, it does next to nothing to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and, given the extremely contorted rationale of the Reserve Bank and Labor's decision to vacate the field, Labor's budget also does next to nothing to stop the likelihood that the RBA will keep smashing renters and mortgage holders with more interest rate rises.

However, while the Greens agree with the opposition in their identification of the problem, we do not agree with the opposition's prescription for dealing with the problem. It is not workers who are driving inflation. Inflation in Australia is primarily being driven by supply side shocks and corporate profiteering. To the extent demand is contributing to inflation, it is older and wealthier Australians whose spending is holding up just fine while younger people—who, of course, are far more likely to be renters or mortgage holders, who are bearing the brunt of the RBA's interest rate increases—have already, to a large degree, closed their wallets. There is massive intergenerational inequity going on in this country at the moment. In the face of inflation sparked by supply shocks and being exacerbated by corporate profiteering, we need the government to step into the breach.

I note the opposition's language in the motion regarding the freezing of interest rates. That's exactly what the Greens have been calling on the government to do. Treasurer Jim Chalmers should step in, use the powers that he has and that have existed for many decades in section 11 of the RBA Act, and overrule the RBA. I now look forward to those in the opposition who understand the history of monetary policy opposing the government's proposal to repeal section 11, which was a recommendation of the RBA review. It was the Menzies government who established the RBA with those section 11 powers, because, in Menzies's view, the government should ultimately be responsible for monetary policy.

The government should not stop at freezing interest rates. We need a multifaceted approach to tackling inflation, including freezing rents, taxing corporate super profits, taxing the super rich and bringing in monopoly busting divestiture powers.