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

I thank Senator Hume for the question. As I just said in my previous answer, which you might not have been listening to, living standards grew 2.1 per cent through the year to the September quarter. We can add in the December data on top of that as well. I would say that this government's focus has been on dealing with inflation, looking at how we drive productivity and, now, managing some of the global uncertainty we see across the world, particularly since the weekend, with the events in Iran and the Middle East. That will be the focus of the government's thinking: How do we help people with cost-of-living pressures? How do we manage the budget responsibly? How do we make the key investments we need to make, whether it be in defence or on the social services side of the budget, in a world where the global economy is more uncertain? They are the challenges facing the government, and we will deal with them responsibly.