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

As Senator Cash knows—or I hope she knows—inflation peaked here lower and later than most G7 countries. Given it peaked later in Australia, its moderation is slightly behind.

In fact, it peaked higher in most countries, Senator Birmingham. Across the OECD, inflation in Australia peaked later and lower than 21 out of 37 countries. Interest rates started rising here later than in the US, Canada and the UK. Despite that, our core inflation is lower than the UK and New Zealand. Inflation is moderating, but it will remain higher than we would like for longer than we would like, which is why we've taken the sensible decisions that we did in the budget—not only the tax cuts kicking in on 1 July but energy bill relief, our cheaper medicines policies and our work that we're doing for students with the HELP and HECS debt relief. All of this is to support people at—