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

I thank Senator Sharma for the question. I think the Treasurer and I have both made very clear the fact that we inherited an inflation number with a six in front of it when we came to government, and that has moderated in welcome ways to have a three in front of it now. I'm sure Senator Sharma would have been most concerned about the escalating inflation challenge that we inherited and that we have actually responded to through our economic plan. Our economic plan is around moderating inflation, ensuring that we can provide some cost-of-living relief to households without adding to the inflation challenge and ensuring that we're getting the budget in much better shape. The Reserve Bank has made it clear that the two surpluses that we are delivering—one that we've already delivered and one soon to be finalised—are actually helping with the inflation challenge in the economy. I don't think there is anything surprising in the sense that we have outlined that price pressures across the world, inflation, global uncertainty and interest rates are being reflected in the national accounts. You can choose to selectively single out one element of what we've said, but we have said price pressures, global uncertainty and interest rates are being reflected in the national accounts. And, if it wasn't for our economic plan, whilst all of those opposite called to cut spending and slash and burn at budget time, we would have seen a much different set of results and that would have seen our economy in recession. The only people in the country that seem to want a recession are those opposite.