Interview with Peter Stefanovic, First Edition

4 August 2024

PETER STEFANOVIC: Well a mark down for the Government, a mark up for the Opposition in the latest Newspoll. If true, we are heading for a hung parliament at the next election. Joining us live now, the Shadow Finance Minister, Jane Hume. Jane, well, considering where you were, if this is true, would a hung parliament mean progress for the Coalition?

JANE HUME: I don't think a hung parliament is good for any Australian. We've seen that before. What this poll, however, tells me is that whatever reset the Government were looking for over the break hasn't been achieved. And it hasn't been achieved for two reasons. One of those is that Australians now know that the Government has taken its eye off the ball, that the Government's priorities aren't the same as Australians priorities. The number one issue for Australians is the cost of living, and that's being driven by inflation. The Government has taken its eye off the ball, and the RBA have called out the fact that their spending, which has happened, increased over every single budget, is actually making the situation worse. This split between the RBA and the Government is unprecedented. I think in my lifetime, certainly since the RBA became an independent body. But the other thing that has failed to reset the Government and that is reflected in these polls, is this reshuffle. I don't think that this Government has any credibility anymore, not just on the economy. People don't think that Jim Chalmers is doing what he needs to do to bring down inflation. But they've also given up on Murray Watt making any real political progress on dealing with the CFMEU and corruption and the CFMEU. There's no political will to do anything serious there. That they don't think Clare O'Neil is going to build 1.2 million homes any time soon. They don't think that Tony Burke, if his track record is anything to go by, can protect our borders. He let in 83 boats in 80 days the last time he was Immigration Minister, and now they've put Andrew Giles in charge of skills and training, one of the great productivity drivers of our economy. And the productivity in this nation has gone backwards by 5.8% in the last two years. So I think that Australians have woken up to the fact that this Government is not doing what it needs to do to make them better off, to make more money, to put more money back in their pocket in a sustainable way, and to improve their standard of living and their quality of life.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Now the Government is sure tying itself in knots to avoid that accusation that it's not helping inflation. I think my chat with the Prime Minister last week proved that. But look, tackling inflation while helping people who need it, it's always a tricky balance. Is it not? Because any help is feeding money into the system? So what's the right way about going, uh, about going about that

JANE HUME: No one said that this was an easy thing to do. But certainly Government spending as the RBA has pulled out, has actually fuelled the fire of inflation. For instance, just spending an additional $450 million on a voice referendum that nobody wanted, and nobody needed and that we knew was going to go down. That fuels inflation. Putting $1 million into a solar panel company that is never going to be internationally competitive, fuels inflation, half $1 billion into a quantum computing company that's based offshore, that fuels inflation, $620,000 on a speechwriter. To make Bill Shorten sound more empathetic when he talks about the NDIS that fuels inflation, the decisions that the Government is making are making the situation worse. All Australians pay a price because the RBA keeps having to jack up interest rates in response. Now the RBA is saying that an interest rate cut was not even on the cards last week and we won't be returning to band to the middle of that band. That 2 to 3% band until the middle of 2026. That's two years of more pain price for ordinary Australians.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, Parliament is back Jane Hume thank you.