Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. As the senator would know, the government is engaged in the budget process and I do not intend to pre-empt the May budget. But the government have an obligation to ensure that the most vulnerable in our community are looked after, and we intend to do that. We do face a serious economic challenge ahead. It has fallen to the Rudd government to deal with the consequences of the reckless big spending of the previous government and their inattention to capacity constraints. This has led to rising inflation levels in the economy outside the target range of two to three per cent over the course of the economic cycle. In fact, core inflation is now at a 16-year high. Inflationary pressures in the Australian economy have built up over a long period of time.