Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Of course, we know that Australians are still doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures. Our No. 1 focus is looking at how we can help families take some of the pressure off. Inflation had a six in front of it and was rising when we came to office, and it now has a three in front of it. But we want to get it down. We want to get it down. That is why we're very much focused on achieving just that. In the OECD annual report of January, just a month ago, they had a lot to say about inflation and about the position that Australia finds itself in. They said:

Headline inflation peaked at close to 8% in late 2022, a somewhat lower and later peak than in many other OECD economies …

They went on to say about wages:

… while many OECD economies experienced falls in real wages and real disposable household incomes when inflation surged in 2021-23 as price rises outpaced nominal income gains, real incomes—

in Australia—

have risen since 2022 …

They went on to say, with regard to the economy and the budget:

Australia's resilience during the shocks of the past half-decade fits with its … avoidance of recessions, supported by prudent fiscal policy and credible monetary policy …

Indeed, we will continue to do what we can to provide support for people. The opposition like to talk about the budget, but they never talk about what they plan to cut. We know that at the last election they planned to increase our taxes paid by every single Australian. We know that the person who has now been put in charge of being not just the shadow Treasurer but the shadow Assistant Treasurer at the same time committed some $600 billion to a nuclear plan at the last election. They wanted to sack 41,000 frontline public servants, and they wanted to increase income taxes for every taxpayer.

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