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

The member for Holt is a wonderful local member and a really key part of our team. She understands the cost-of-living pressures being felt in her community and around Australia.

Today we got the new inflation numbers for February. What those numbers showed is that inflation eased a little bit in February. It's still higher than we would like, but we also know and understand that the conflict in the Middle East will push that inflation higher and for longer. It is pleasing to see that inflation came off a little bit in February, but we know that there are a lot of challenges in the global economy and in our own economy, and that's the government's focus. Headline inflation was flat in the month. It was down to 3.7 through the year. Underlying inflation was 3.3 per cent through the year. This reflects a mix of temporary factors, like the end of the energy rebates, and some more persistent factors as well. Treasury estimates that around three-quarters of the increase in inflation since the middle of last year reflects temporary factors.

With Australians still under pressure despite this welcome easing of inflation in our economy in February, it's really more important than ever that we do the work that we're doing to get more fuel supply and to make sure the ACCC has the powers to police their suppliers and the retailers, we engage with industry to get fuel where it's needed and we engage with our international partners—in ways described by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy a moment ago—to make sure that we're doing whatever we can to ensure that Australians who are under pressure at the petrol pump are getting supported by this government.

It's also why it's so important we're managing the budget responsibly—a couple of surpluses, getting the Liberal debt down, banking upward revisions to revenue—a budget which is $233 billion stronger since we came to office. These numbers are also a reminder of why our cost-of-living help is so important—cheaper medicines, more bulk billing, student debt relief and the like—but especially when it comes to the tax cuts that will be rolling out in our economy in July and then the July after. Our three tax cuts together mean an average worker gets about an extra $50 a week to help with the cost of living.

This is especially important today, because today is the one year anniversary of the 2025 budget. That means it's the one year anniversary of the member for Hume standing up after the budget and saying he opposes our tax cuts. Tomorrow's the anniversary of him voting against those tax cuts, and Friday's the anniversary of him saying that they would repeal these tax cuts. If you're looking for evidence that they haven't learned and they haven't changed, they took the member for Hume, who opposes our tax cuts, and made him the Leader of the Opposition.

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