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

I thank Senator Hume for the question. It is not uncommon from quarter to quarter for the per capita measure to move in that direction. In fact, it has gone backwards one in every four quarters since these records began about 50 years ago, or 48 times out of the last 199 quarters. There is no doubt, though, that in today's numbers—and the Treasurer dealt with this in his press conference earlier today—that we are seeing the impact of higher interest rates, high-but-moderating inflation, which is welcome, and some of the impacts of global uncertainty. We have been clear and upfront with people about those challenges and the impacts it is having on households, which is why our cost-of-living package, most of which those opposite opposed, has been so important to support households through this. But at the same time, we have seen a rebound in population growth which has been driven by the reopening of our economy post COVID and this very significant return of international students in particular, which is showing up in the services exports numbers and that is good news of course for our education and tourism sectors. While we are seeing international students are returning to more normal levels following the pandemic, we are still not expecting to see net overseas migration catch up to the level forecast by the coalition government prior to the pandemic until the end of the decade. I think, in short, the answer to the question is we have seen—