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

Minister, you have the call.

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

Hello, Ms Patterson, one of my constituents these days. Welcome. It's so nice to see you there in the chamber. I'll get back to the question now because I only have 54 seconds to go.

The question, again, on cost of living—and I had those interject over in the previous answer about annual trimmed mean inflation. You must have been very worried, Senator Paterson, when annual trimmed mean inflation was at 4.3 per cent under your watch. You must have been very, very concerned at that point, because it has come down. It has come down to 3½ per cent in October 2024 from 4.3 per cent on your watch. So let's just remember what has happened in this term. Inflation was rising under the former government. Interest rates started to increase under them. And, since they've been in opposition, they've said no to tax cuts for every taxpayer, no to minimum wage increases, no to pay rises for aged-care workers and no to cheaper medicines. (Time expired)