Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

No, the government doesn't accept that, nor does the statement of the Monetary Policy Board say that. I would say again that this is the opposition putting down a marker because they want to cut pensions, they want to cut energy bill relief, they want to cut cheaper child care and they want to cut cheaper medicines. All the work we've done to repair aged care and to repair Medicare bulk-billing is what they call wasteful spending. That's what they are saying is wasteful spending. We think that supporting aged pensions, making sure energy bill relief is provided and other cost-of-living measures are funded properly have been an important part of supporting households when inflation has been higher than we would like.