I think we can all agree that Australians are doing it tough. The price of everything is up, and they are regularly hearing from the Reserve Bank that their mortgage and interest rates are going to go up as well. Today, in question time, I made two observations. The first was that the Prime Minister's demeanour suggested that he was a little angry, upset—I might even say concerned. It wouldn't take a body language expert to see that. It was pretty clear from where I sat. There was a second part of question time that was instructive too, and that was the question that the member for Bowman put to the Prime Minister. But I'll get to that in a minute.

I thought to myself during question time, 'Why is the PM upset?' And I think I've worked it out. Australians have worked out who they need to blame for the situation they find themselves in. They've finally worked it out. They've worked out that the challenges they face, born of inflation, are being driven out of Canberra. For a long time, those opposite have sought to point the finger in other directions, and Australians, as fair minded people, have said, 'Yes, fair enough, we can understand those things.' But the last interest rate increase in this country suggested a different attitude from Australians. Australians have now finally worked out that there is a direct causal link between public expenditure emanating out of this place and interest rates. It's driving up prices, it's driving up interest rates and it's causing real grief for Australians.

Of course, the Prime Minister's upset because the person who's in charge of selling that message to Australians and suggesting that the challenges are elsewhere is his embattled Treasurer. But the Treasurer, unfortunately, isn't able to shield the Prime Minister any longer. Australians have worked it out, and they're angry and disappointed. It's the reason he can't go to the footy, because he gets booed. We know that the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer is strained.

That leads me to the question that was posed by the member for Bowman. It was not the question that was instructive but the answer from the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, when asked about the performance of his Treasurer, was glowing in his praise. He was glowing in his praise for the Treasurer. The speech could have been summarised as 'Australians have never had it better'. But, you see, that's the problem. We've got a prime minister with a tin ear, and Aussies know it. He comes in here and points to the performance of the Treasurer and says: 'The Treasurer is doing such a fantastic job. Look at all the things I've saved you from.' But Australians are sitting back at their kitchen table, opening another bill, be it an electricity bill, the annual insurance bill or other bills, looking at their credit card statement, grocery bills and other things and saying: 'But I'm really hurting, and your job is to protect us. Your job is to usher the Australian economy.'

Aggregate demand, which is what is driving up inflation and interest rates in this country, is made up of two elements. There's private demand and public demand. Private demand is hard to control. There's 24, 25, 26 or 27 million Australians. It's quite hard to reach into the budgets of Australians and make them make different decisions, although interest rates are doing that. But there is one element of aggregate demand over which the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, in particular, have very direct responsibility and control, and that's public demand. We've got a Treasurer, in the middle of an inflation crisis where Australians are being whacked month after month with higher interest rates, who has taken government spending to 26.9 per cent of GDP, the highest level in 40 years outside of the pandemic. Treasurer, tighten your belt because, when you don't, Australians are forced to. They've had enough of you and your prime minister.