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

that the economy's growing, and it's growing faster than the economies of many of the countries that we often compare ourselves with. So, overall that is good news.

We have never, ever pretended that there aren't challenges facing the economy. There are. From day one, since I started answering questions in this place, from the beginning of this government, we had inherited an economy with rising inflation, high inflation and rising interest rates, and we had to deal with that. We also had the effects of the borders opening after COVID and the faster return of international students than I think most expected. This has set a challenge for the economy, but we are dealing with it. The fact that the economy is growing is good news—a view that I would have thought everyone in this place would share. I would have thought it is something that those opposite would also accept is a good result. In light of the challenges facing the economy—some of them domestic, some of them related to the global situation—I would have thought that that is something all of us in this place would think is a reasonable result.

I'm not saying there aren't challenges, because there are, and we should have our eyes open on those. We're seeing inflation moderate. That is a good outcome; that is a good result. We're seeing wages starting to get moving. Again, that is a good result. We've got the opportunity that will come with the transition to a cleaner and greener economy. There's no doubt that there are challenges, but those national accounts last week spoke to the strength of our economy and its performance overall.