Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We now have a fourth position. The question was about inflation. It is a very serious question, because we are dealing with a serious inflationary problem in this country. It reached a 16-year high in October, November and December last year. Those opposite may want to deny that they had anything to do with it or that their policies had contributed to it. But we are dealing with it, which is what we did in our budget on 13 May, which was to build up a significant surplus, to restrain public demand and to stop their reckless spending in the interests of Australians who are carrying very, very high mortgage rates. The legacy of those opposite is 10 interest rate rises in a row and absolutely fantastic financial pressure on Australian families. They might want to pretend that the election did not happen last year on 24 November. They might like to pretend it did not occur at the end of last year. They might like everyone out there to believe that, suddenly, inflation just emerged on 25 November last year. They might like to pretend that it did not happen. Well, it did and we are dealing with it. One of the ways we are dealing with it is by building a significant surplus.

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