Topics: Core inflation rises under Labor; living standards collapsing under Labor; donation reforms; Lidia Thorpe’s behaviour in the Senate; Senate legislation

 

E&OE   

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, monthly inflation data out yesterday, and we learnt that underlying inflation has gone up from 3.2 to 3.5%. We also learned that this government is in absolute denial about what's going on with inflation in this country. Not only do we have prices rising quickly right now, they're rising at an even faster rate. Inflation has gone up, not down. Now this is a government that promised that it was going to deliver a lower cost of living. It promised lower electricity prices, it promised cheaper mortgages. We have seen none of that, and now it is in complete denial. Yesterday, we asked the question of the Prime Minister, would he confirm that core inflation has gone up. He danced around and refused, refused to even accept that that was the case. Now, Australians know what's going on. They see it in their bank accounts. They see it in the extra hours of work they have to do every day. They see it in having to cut back on their spending. They see it in the sacrifices they're having to make not being able to pick up the kids from school at the time they might have liked because they're having to work extra hours. I mean these are very real sacrifices for hard working people who are just trying to get ahead, and this government has given up on them. It is a weak government, an incompetent government, the reckless spending we continue to see from this government doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. $5 billion of extra spending per year on Canberra-based public servants since Labor came to power. That is not how you beat an inflation crisis. It's why we've opposed over $110 billion of spending in the parliament that this government continues to rush through legislation to spend more money and that will continue to put inflationary pressures on Australians and put us at the back of the pack in dealing with this. It is important to understand this is homegrown inflation. We are at the back of the pack in dealing with it. Our core inflation is higher than any of other major peer countries across the world. We have not seen a collapse in Australians’ standard of living like this since records began from the 50s. This is worse than Keating's recession ‘we had to have’. This is worse than the disastrous Whitlam Government of the early 1970s. This is the worst hit we have seen to Australians’ standard of living in our recorded history, and it is worse than what we are seeing across the OECD, the worst outcome of any country across the OECD in the last two and a half years. We are at the back of the pack. This is homegrown inflation, and we have a government that is in denial, that is weak and incompetent, pats itself on the back every day and you know the Treasurer, the Treasurer has the hide to say, well, it's all going swimmingly, but Australians don't feel it's good. They don't feel it's good. Well, they look at their bank accounts and they know it's not good, but this government needs to get serious about it. They've failed. They've had three failed budgets. They continue to fail, and we continue to see them attempting to put measures in place that are only going to make the situation worse. Happy to take questions.

 

JOURNALIST:

Is the Coalition going to vote for donation reforms when they come up in the Senate today?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well it depends on what comes up. It depends on what comes up. But we want to see fair, continue to see what we've always had in this country, fair, transparent elections and this legislation, we've been constructive with the government throughout. We've sought to work with them closely to get an outcome on this, and we'll continue to do so. But at the end of the day, the legislation, like any legislation, has to get the balance right, and reasonable people can take different views on what the right balance is, but we will continue to work with Labor to give this legislation the best possible chance of being passed in this cycle the Parliament.

 

JOURNALIST:

How would you characterise Lidia Thorpes behaviours in Parliament, not just yesterday, but in general?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I wasn’t there, so I didn't observe it firsthand. I've seen some of the reporting. But I mean, clearly, if you get elected to the Parliament in our democratic system, you have to show that system respect. You have to show respect, because it has been a phenomenally successful system of government in this country and we should all be very proud of it. But when it's shown the disrespect that she's shown I think it is a very serious issue.

 

JOURNALIST:

Final day of sitting, there's a lot of bills to get through today. Should the Senate have been distracted by Lidia Thorpe yesterday, or should more focus go towards getting bills passed?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

This is about two and a half years. This government has been here for two and a half years, and they've been distracted throughout and in denial and it's no wonder then they're trying to rush through legislation, bills at the end that are not fully thought through, that haven't been fully negotiated and this is a government that spent a significant part of this term distracted by its failed referendum. It's clearly distracted in many other ways. It's in denial about core inflation going up. I mean when the Prime Minister cannot even admit that. This is the preferred measure of the Reserve Bank. This is the measure that tells us what's actually going on with inflation and the Prime Minister can't even stand at the dispatch box and say, yes, I accept that it's gone up, and we're going to try to take action against it, not that they've done that with any success, because it wouldn't be going up otherwise. I mean, what a disaster. What a hopeless situation. They think they can spin their way through it. Now, this Treasurer thinks that it can beat inflation with alliteration, with his three-word slogans with R's and F's and whatever it is he uses. I mean, that's not how you beat inflation. You get serious about it, and he hasn't been serious about it. That's why we're seeing these outcomes. All good? Thank you very much. 

 

ENDS.