Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for all the great work that he's doing as the newish member for Deakin and also for his question. We saw in the data last week that headline inflation was steady in January: much lower than it was under the Liberal Party but still higher than we would like. And that's why it's so important that we're getting the budget into better condition and also, at the same time, rolling out cost-of-living relief for people who are doing it tough. We've got income tax cuts coming this year and next year. We're boosting superannuation for people on lower incomes. We've got student debt relief, cheaper medicines and also more bulk-billing, because we know that more bulk-billing means less pressure on families.

If you think about all the foundations of a decent society in this country, they are Medicare, superannuation, decent pay, the ability to balance work and family responsibilities. They are the foundations of a decent society, and I think it's worth the parliament understanding that the new shadow Treasurer opposes all of those things. Of the three shadow treasurers that I have faced in the last nine months, this one is easily the most extreme and the riskiest of the lot. This is a guy who has called for the privatisation of Medicare. He has said that superannuation should be dismantled, and he's described working from home as apartheid.

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