Doorstop, Press Gallery

18 November 2024

JANE HUME: Good morning, everyone. Last week, the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living brought down its third and final report, and the evidence is clear, Australians are poorer under labor. Our standard of living has collapsed, and that's largely due to inflation, which has been kept too high for too long because of decisions that the Albanese Government have made. Public sector spending is the biggest driver of inflation. You don't need to just believe the coalition. The IMF have said it. Independent economists have said it. The Reserve Bank have said that public sector spending is driving inflation at both state and federal levels. That's why the number one recommendation of the Cost of Living Inquiry is for a National Cabinet. A National Cabinet to address the root causes of inflation, which is public sector spending. Public sector spending has increased to 27.5% just in the last few years now that's well up on the 22 and a half percent that it was on average in the decade in the lead up to COVID. In my home state of Victoria, public sector spending has increased 7.7% in the last 12 months alone. That's unsustainable. It's keeping inflation higher for longer, which is keeping interest rates higher for longer, and Australians are paying the price. A National Cabinet is a national solution to a national crisis. If the government were taking the cost of living crisis seriously, then they would have a national response. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: The Government is announcing some proposed rules to protect cash and ensure cash can be used for essential transactions. What does the Opposition make of those rules? Do you think they go far enough, or are they too kind of targeted and specific?

JANE HUME: We actually haven't seen the rules yet that the Government are announcing. This is simply a plan for a plan, yet another consultation for something that won't come into effect until 2026. This looks to me like a Government scratching around for an economic agenda because it's lost the fight against inflation, which is the number one issue for all Australians, because it's inflation is what's pushing up the cost of living. That's the problem that Australians want solved. This Government, unfortunately, has been timid in its response to the cost of living, which is the number one issue.

JOURNALIST: Some news that's broken in the last half hour or so, confirmation the PM is going to meet with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. What would you like to see come out of that meeting? Presumably, trade will be high on the agenda there.

JANE HUME: Well, we have been seeking for a normalisation of our relationship with China for many years now, but only as long as it is in Australia's national interest. We would hope that those conversations will be productive in nature. But I can't anticipate what it is that the Prime Minister is going to be talking to Xi Jinping about.

JOURNALIST: And where's the Aged Care legislation at in the Senate. Do you expect that to pass this fortnight, or are there still unfulfilled demands, if you like, from the Coalition that you'd like to see the Government compromise on?

JANE HUME: It's extraordinary that this has taken so long to occur. Labor Government said, when they came to office that aged care reform was a priority on their agenda, and the Coalition said in our first Budget Reply that if the Government had sensible reforms to make that we would come in and support them. It took months and months before Labor got to a point where they could deal with the Coalition on the financial framework around aged care, and then even longer before they introduced the legislation, they've now left it to the last hour. We'll assess that legislation. I'm sure it will be debated in the Senate sometime soon. I would hope it would, because otherwise Labor would have failed on yet another commitment.

JOURNALIST: What kind of amendments are you looking for in terms of that proposal?

JANE HUME: Well, that's probably an issue that's better asked. to the Shadow Health and Aged Care Minister, rather than me. She will be taking this legislation through when it comes to our Senate. We know that there's so much legislation that's been log jammed in the Senate because Labor seems unable to prosecute the case for its own agenda.

JOURNALIST: Awesome, thank you.

JANE HUME: Thanks guys.