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

It's not an unusual term to use, Senator Ruston—but anyway. As I said in answer to Senator Paterson's question, it is higher than we would like. The flat monthly result in October was driven by falls in electricity and fuel prices—those opposite may have missed that—and moderation in housing costs. The tick-up in annual terms in part reflects temporary factors such as the timing of state energy rebates and some of the volatile items such as travel prices.

But we also recognise that households are still under pressure, and that's why our continued, responsible cost-of-living relief is so important. When we look at the monthly results—and these are important; this is the first month, I think, of the full, complete monthly CPI figures—we think it is an important change that will help inform decision-making into the future and support the work of the government and indeed organisations like the Reserve Bank. Headline inflation was flat in the month of October but 3.8 per cent in through-the-year terms. Underlying inflation was 3.3 per cent in the 12 months to October. And, of course, when we came to office, Senator Dowling, headline inflation was 6.1 per cent and climbing. It peaked in the December quarter of that year, but it is now moderated substantially, which has given the RBA confidence to cut interest rates three times this year. Underlying inflation was hovering around five per cent when we came to government. It is now much lower than that.