Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Australians are worried about inflation. There's been a lot of arguing in this House about whose fault it is, but the question I'm being asked is: what is the government actually going to do about it? Australians are scared by the prospect of interest rate hikes, they are scared by their bills going up and they feel that the cost-of-living relief doesn't actually get to the heart of the problem. So the question is back to you: what will the government do about it?

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

Thank you to the honourable member for her question but also for the constructive way that she goes about engaging with the big challenges in our economy. Inflation, which is higher than anyone would like, is a major challenge in our economy and a major focus of this government, and our plan to deal with this tick-up in inflation is to help people with the cost of living in the most responsible way that we can, primarily through the tax system but also in other ways, which other ministers have spoken about today; to continue to get the budget in better condition—we've made some progress there, but we know that there's more work to do; but also, over the medium term and the longer term, to lift the speed limit on the economy so that it can grow more quickly without adding to these pressures on inflation. On this side of the House, we do acknowledge and we do understand that this inflation is putting extra pressure on people in the community you represent and in the communities that we all represent as well. But, more than acknowledging that, we are acting on it as well.

There will always be a range of views about the best way to go about addressing this challenge, but I think the three ways that the government is going about it strike the best balance in the most responsible way that we can. This inflation is higher than anyone would like. The interest rate decision which accompanied it puts extra pressure on millions of people with a mortgage as well. We take our responsibilities to every Australian seriously, and we know that right now, when they're under pressure, we need to do more than acknowledge that; we need to act on it, and that's what we're doing.