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

I welcome the opportunity to talk about our targeted cost-of-living measures that were calibrated carefully in the budget. As we said, from 1 July this year, which was Monday this week, we have tax cuts flowing into the pay packets of every taxpayer in the country and, importantly, energy bill rebates and relief for every household in Australia, recognising that this is a big bill for most households and that we should be providing support where we can. I read the minutes of the RBA board meeting which were released yesterday, and obviously the question did not give a comprehensive analysis, shall I say, of the minutes, which were quite extensive and went through what is happening not only in the international environment but also here domestically.

I don't think it's any surprise—in fact, we dealt with this issue at estimates—that energy bill rebates were about putting downward pressure on inflation in 2024-25, and I don't think anyone has pretended otherwise. That year is the focus of that effort, and that was the evidence of Treasury, and it was my evidence. It's very consistent with the lines that the Treasurer and I have used since budget day. We believe that, whilst inflation is moderating in welcome ways, it is remaining higher than we would like for longer than we would like. We have made sensible investments to support households with some of those pressures as we get inflation back into the target range.