Topics: Monthly CPI, cost of living

E&OE

ROS CHILDS:

Let's get more on today's inflation figures. Now Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor joins us. Minister, welcome. Thank you for your time. So what's your reaction to these numbers today?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, Ros, we continue to see prices rising sharply for so many items, essential items that Australians buy, whether it's housing, bread, dairy, gas, electricity, you name it, Australians are continuing to pay more for almost everything. And that's on top of sharp increases in interest rates, and very sharp increases in taxes being paid 27% increases in taxes being paid by Australians over the last year or so. And those three things combined means that we've had the sharpest fall in disposable income of any major advanced country in the world. So it's still very tough times, the underlying inflation rate is almost double the target rate. So there's a lot of work still to do to get it back down to where it should be. And that means continuing price rises and those price rises are what's causing the great pain - one of the factors causing a great deal of pain for Australians.

ROS CHILDS:

There is an argument though, isn't there that the economy is in good shape, inflation is falling, as we've seen today, unemployment is low. Looks like interest rates have now peaked based on these inflation numbers. Cost of living, of course, still an issue, as you've said, but that's a problem facing many other countries, not just Australia, that's not particularly caused by domestic factors?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah, except Ros that we're in the back of the pack and dealing with this. So we've got one of the very highest levels of inflation of any advanced country, we've had the sharpest reduction in disposable income of any major advanced country, The Economist tells us we've got the most entrenched inflation of any advanced country and our GDP per person is going backwards. GDP per person is going backwards. The only thing growing the economy anymore, is a growth in population. But that doesn't help individuals' prosperity. So we're not in the shape we should be in. Australia is a great country, but our economy doesn't have the strength we'd like. We are at the back of the pack in dealing with this. And indeed, our Reserve Bank governor has told us these inflation pressures are homegrown. They are coming from here. And it's not international factors. And we need a government that treats this as an absolute top priority. You can't spin your way out of it, you've got to focus on the substantive issues that are causing inflation.

ROS CHILDS:

Don't these inflation figures show that the government's moves to address cost of living pressures are working? Earlier today, Jim Chalmers made the point that the Coalition voted against legislation to ease cost of living pressures, he cited electricity rebates as an example, how do you respond to that?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, that's just not correct. I mean, this is a Treasurer who's more focused on spin than substance. He is a doctor of spin at the end of the day, and you can't do that. At the end of the day, if you want to beat inflation, we learned how to do it in the 70s and 80s. You've got to go to the source of the problem. You can't deal with the symptoms. And this is a government that is not doing that. And as I say the proof is in the pudding here where Australia is at the back of the pack in dealing with these pressures. And that tells us that the government hasn't been focusing on the right things, you've got to pull every lever - industrial relations, competition policy, spending, we've seen an increase in spending of over $20,000 for every household since Labor came to power. All of these levers are levers that can get to the source of the problem. But we've seen a government making a bad situation worse.

ROS CHILDS:

So if you were treasurer, Angus Taylor, how would you address cost of living pressures?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

That's a good question. And each of those levers, we would be pulling. In the lesson from the 70s and 80s, when we last had a major bout of inflation, was that you have to pull every lever right at the source of the inflationary pressures. So that means industrial relations. You can't put union officials between bosses and employees in order to try and solve an inflation problem, which is exactly what Labor is trying to do right now. Competition policy. You can't you can't allow it to become crony capitalism, as we've seen, in what happened with Qantas where they were looking after Qantas at the expense of competition in the marketplace. Even this grocery code's taken 100 days for the government to get serious about it and it remains to be seen, we hope for the best. But fear for the worst in terms of what what might transpire. All of these levers are the levers government can pull and meanwhile 27% increase in taxes for Australians, it's an enormous extra load to be having it at this time - a combination of bracket creep and other measures and that that is resulting, as I say in the sharpest reduction in disposable income, real disposable income, of any major advanced country in the world.

ROS CHILDS:

So the parliamentary year getting underway in, what, a few weeks time? What's going to be the focus for the Coalition in 2024?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

This will absolutely be the focus. I mean cost of living is the focus around kitchen tables, understandably so, and it needs to be the focus around the Cabinet table. And it's certainly the focus around the Shadow Cabinet table, Ros. This is, this is the overwhelming issue impacting Australians, particularly as we come out of the festive period. People have got bills to pay, and then it's off to school in a few weeks' time. I think these financial pressures are going to be felt very keenly by Australians. They need a government that's focused on the job and they'll certainly have an opposition that's holding the government to account on it.

ROS CHILDS:

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Thank you

ENDS.