Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Acting Deputy President, please tell Senator Farrell not to demonstrate his economic ignorance in this chamber. The latest data for the September quarter reveals that inflation is stubbornly high, and the Treasurer will tell you that this is because of international factors. He'll tell you that it's everybody's fault other than his own. He even said recently, 'We've got a very unpredictable, volatile global economy,' and he spoke of what they had been able to do in the year since that first budget. Yet in April last year, he said: 'This government has an excuse for everything and a plan for nothing. They want to talk about international comparisons'—wait for this!—'but Australians couldn't give a stuff what inflation is in the United States.' That's the standard that the Treasurer has set for himself, and it's a standard that he is clearly failing. Core inflation—the key measure of underlying price pressures—is now at 5.2 per cent. That's higher than in Germany. It is higher than in the United States. It is higher than in France, Italy, Japan and Canada. That data simply confirms what every Australian family is feeling: the cost of everything is going up.

This decision by the RBA today to increase rates by 25 basis points has taken the cash rate to its highest level since 2011. That's a heavy blow to Australian families, especially those who were already facing financial difficulties. Because of the inaction of this government and its failure to tackle inflation head-on, a family with a $750,000 mortgage is now paying nearly $24,000 a year more than they were a year ago. Every time interest rates go up, we see an unfortunate increase in the number of Australians who turn to hardship payments for their energy bills or seek assistance from charities, particularly those that help put food on the table. This isn't just a statistic; it's a reflection of the real impact on people's lives. It's a consequence of a government that, for the past year and a half, has had the wrong priorities. It lacks a clear plan to tackle inflation. It lacks a plan to reduce the cost of living for ordinary Australians by tackling the causes, not the symptoms. The government has focused on everything except a plan to tackle inflation and get it under control. While the RBA has had to do all it can to try and cool the economy, Labor has added $188 billion of new spending, further fuelling inflation. It has added a tax on truckies and a tax on farmers, both of which add to the costs that Australians are paying at the supermarket. The RBA has its foot on the brake, but Labor is pumping the accelerator.

Today the RBA confirmed that the result of the government's irresponsible failure to come up with a plan for inflation is higher interest rates. The governor said, 'The risk of inflation remaining higher for longer has increased'—not decreased but increased—'and it's the everyday Australians that are shouldering the financial burden.' Under Labor in the last 15 months, the cost of food has gone up by 8.2 per cent. The cost of housing has gone up by 10.4 per cent. The cost of electricity—which they promised they would reduce—has gone up by 18.2 per cent. The cost of gas has gone up by 28 per cent. Australia's inflation is now higher than that of most advanced economies. This is Labor's cost-of-living crisis. Rising interest rates caused by Labor's failure to deliver a plan to fight inflation is having a cascading effect across the economy, on businesses—particularly small businesses that struggle to access affordable credit to grow and employ more people—and on Australian families, who are suffering the consequences of Labor's inaction. It is crucial that Labor realign their priorities and policies and come up with a plan to tackle inflation, or it's going to be ordinary Australian families that continue to pay the price.