Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

One of the great mysteries of the 42nd Parliament is why, oh why, is the member for Cowper on the opposition front bench. We are no closer to an elucidation on that particular point after that contribution. But we have to give credit where it is due. This MPI does get an award. It gets an award for chutzpah; it gets an award for hide and hypocrisy. For a member of the previous government to have the hide to propose a matter of public importance criticising this government for not adequately addressing the impact of rising costs on struggling families is simply breathtaking. He was a member of the government whose official policy was to shoulder shrug—to shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Australian working families have never been better off, therefore there is nothing we can or should do about rising prices.’ The official policy of the Howard government was to shrug their shoulders. That was the best they could do over 11 years.

At the crux of this MPI is inflation. Inflation is the enemy of families struggling to make ends meet. That is why we have signalled that we will be taking a very tough approach to the upcoming budget. That is why we have signalled that we will be taking some tough spending decisions which escaped the previous government, because we are dealing with the highest underlying inflation in 16 years. It is the highest inflation rate in 16 years which has been causing the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates. Inflation affects working families in two ways: it increases their costs directly and it increases their costs indirectly through interest rate increases.

See this speech in context