Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, when we came to office inflation was at 6.1 per cent. As importantly—Senator Dowling knows this—it was rising. It was rising. It is now much lower than that. We know Australians are under pressure, which is why easing cost-of-living pressures has been this government's No. 1 priority since coming into government—rolling out cheaper medicines, more bulk-billing, student debt relief, backing higher wages and more tax cuts from 1 July. We can talk a bit more about this, and I hope Senator Cash might return to this issue in her next question, because I think what is interesting is that so many of the things that this government has done to try and deal with cost-of-living relief have been opposed by Senator Cash and the Liberal Party and the National Party.

What is interesting is that they come in here, loudly interject and talk about cost-of-living, meanwhile voting to oppose cost-of-living measures that this government is seeking to roll out for the Australian people. So I think everybody understands which party is (a) a party of government, and (b) a party that is focused only what matters to Australians.