David Moncrieff (Hughes, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What steps has the Albanese Labor government taken to prevent price gouging by fuel suppliers following the events in the Middle East, and is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

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

():  I acknowledge the immense contribution the member for Hughes is already making in this place. I also acknowledge his predecessor in the public gallery, as I'm sure he would like me to do.

We've got some good news in the economy today. Our economy grew 0.8 per cent in the quarter and 2.6 per cent through the year. This means that growth in our economy is now stronger and broader, and it's very welcome. This is faster growth than every major advanced economy. It means per capita growth is now the strongest in more than three years. It's the strongest GDP growth in almost three years. But it's the composition of that growth which is especially encouraging because there's more growth in business investment, there's more growth in dwelling investment and there's growth in market sector productivity and also in consumption—even though consumption came in a bit weaker than we expected.

These are encouraging numbers which provide a really robust foundation to confront the intense global economic volatility which has been dialled up by escalation of the conflict in Iran and the Middle East more broadly. We have very serious challenges in our economy, but these numbers show that we have very substantial advantages as well. We are very well placed to deal with what's coming at us from around the world. What these numbers show is that 2025 is all about the big recovery in the private sector in particular. Private demand grew faster and contributed over three times more to economic growth than public demand, in annual terms. Within a year, annual private demand growth more than tripled but annual public demand growth more than halved compared with 2024.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left, until the House is silent I'm not going to call anyone. You're interjecting on the government. You're also interjecting on your own people. Honestly! The Treasurer was asked a question. He's giving information to the House. I fail to see how this could possibly be a point of order on relevance, but the manager is getting a fairly good go this week. He's new in the role. I'm fair with everyone. I call the Manager of Opposition Business.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It goes to direct relevance. The question was on price gouging. You've got the wrong one. You're doing national accounts.

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. As I said, I have been generous with the manager. But, after that point of order, that tap's now been turned off. You can't get up and make smart alec remarks every time you take a point of order. I have a long list of times when Speakers have not taken points of order, including of managers. So I have the ability not to take points of order. Do not put me in that position. The Treasurer will continue.

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

The reason that I have spoken about the global conditions and the domestic political economic conditions is that I acknowledge, as everyone should, that the challenges in our economy are dialled up by what we're seeing happening overseas. A lot of these challenges existed before—our inflation challenge, our productivity challenge and global economic uncertainty. But developments in Iran and the Middle East more broadly are having an impact. That's why we've been monitoring developments very closely in the Middle East. It's why I wrote to the ACCC to make sure that service stations are not engaging in price gouging, that they're not taking Australian motorists and Australian consumers for mugs.

Not everyone supports our efforts to prevent price gouging. The new shadow Treasurer this morning was criticising our efforts to make sure that motorists aren't taken for mugs. At the same time, he was once again horrendously wrong. It's his second big gaffe in the space of two weeks. He said that the petrol excise is attached to the price of petrol and not to volume—wrong once again. We're taking steps. The economy is in good shape. We know there's more work to do.