Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question this afternoon is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Minister, you report regularly to the Senate on the Albanese Labor government's work to put downward pressure on inflation while supporting Australians with cost-of-living pressures. There is more work to do, and I'm proud to be part of a government that is working every day to deliver for all Australians. We know that the RBA governor has spoken directly and recently about the dual responsibilities of government to reduce inflation while providing services. To that end, can the minister now please explain to the Senate how the government is delivering on these two key objectives?

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

I thank Senator Pratt for the question. It's great to get a question from the good senator from WA. The Labor government remains focused on dealing with the challenge of inflation, but, against that, we're also delivering important services to the Australian community and, indeed, assisting where we can with cost-of-living pressures.

We take our job very seriously about how we got our budget back into shape, how we've got wages moving again and how we could deliver tax cuts in a better and fairer way that ensured everybody who pays tax got a tax cut. Of course, most importantly in terms of the challenge of dealing with inflation, we turned Liberal debt—hundreds of billions of dollars of Liberal debt—into Labor surpluses. We've had two Labor surpluses, and we know that they find it very hard to deal with that.

Our strong economic management and our back-to-back surpluses have been helpful in dealing with the inflation challenge. This demonstrates those dual responsibilities which the governor talked about in her press conference following the RBA board meeting in terms of making sure that we are not only dealing with inflation but also, importantly, providing the services to the Australian people that they expect. We've got a list of achievements over the last two years that we've delivered in relation to the economy and cost of living and in our housing agenda. We are delivering on the promises we took to the last election.

There is more work to do, but we know that fake outrage over there. The only people unhappy that there wasn't an interest rate increase last week were the federal opposition. They were praying, 'Please, can we have one because nothing would give us greater pleasure?', while we are focused on the real issues. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pratt, a first supplementary?

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister. Providing support for Australians requires a government that prioritises strong economic management. The government has recently achieved a second budget surplus, which the RBA governor has noted contributes in the nation's fight against inflation. Can the minister please outline the approach she and the Treasurer have taken when it comes to economic and budget management?

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

I thank Senator Pratt for the question. As members and senators would know, we have been focusing on making sure we're getting the budget in better shape. At the same time we've halved inflation and delivered tax cuts. We've got record jobs growth with over 930,000 new jobs created since this government was elected—record levels of jobs growth and more than any other government in history. We've got lower gross debt: 9.7 per cent lower. We're paying $80 billion less in interest costs on that Liberal debt, We've turned that Liberal debt into Labor surpluses, and we've done it at the same time—

That's right, Senator Polley: two Labor surpluses. We've done it whilst also providing important cost-of-living relief that those opposite have argued against in this chamber—real policies that make a difference to the lives of Australian people.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pratt, a second supplementary?

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a member of a government that's focused on delivering cost-of-living relief, I'm frankly shocked by the refusal of the opposition to support cost-of-living relief for Australians at every turn. How is cost-of-living relief helping? What is the impact of the slash-and-burn approach that those opposite have taken? What is the consequence of what they are advocating?

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

Those opposite have no economic credibility. We know that. They want all the bad economic news they can get their hands on because they want to shift the blame. They don't care, and they don't focus on cost of living and the things that matter to the Australian people. They want to come in here, have a fight and play that divisive role that their leader champions, whilst we are working every single day on how we can help households with the cost-of-living pressures that they're experiencing, how we can get the budget in better shape so it can deal with the pressures that are coming its way and how we can make sure that we're not adding to the inflation challenge but are putting downward pressure on it. All of those steps are working. And, at the same time, we hear nothing from those opposite but 'no, no, no'—negative, divisive responses.