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

That would be the effect of the shadow Treasurer's call becoming a reality—higher interest rates and higher unemployment. The second point I would make is that no responsible treasurer comments on or feeds speculation about future movements in interest rates. There are good reasons why treasurers don't do that. If only the shadow Treasurer was as responsible to stick to the convention, which has applied to economic spokespeople from both sides of the parliament over a long period of time.

The third thing I would say is that he has conveniently left out from his question the fact that, in the course of the last year, we also saw three interest rate cuts. When interest rates were coming down, I don't remember the shadow treasurer saying it was all about the government. I respect the independence of the Reserve Bank, and that extends to not commenting on the future movement in rates. I also think that the Reserve Bank's dual mandate is very important because it means that the Reserve Bank is focused on jobs—the impact on real people and real communities—at the same time as they engage in this fight against inflation.

When it comes to inflation—I have acknowledged on a number of occasions that we had an inflation challenge before the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, but the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, as the Prime Minister has pointed out earlier in question time, makes that challenge harder rather than easier. When it comes to fighting inflation, those opposite had it north of 6 per cent and rising. We've had it much lower. We know that it's still a challenge in our economy, and that's why we're focused on it.

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