Interview with Stephanie March, ABC News Breakfast

10 January 2025

STEPHANIE MARCH: While the Prime Minister is wrapping up a multi state tour where he's outlined his to do list when Parliament opens next month, with an election looming, the PM is yet to give a date, the Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume joins us now in the studio. Senator Hume, thanks so much for joining us. Has the pre-election campaign by the Prime Minister caught the Coalition a bit off guard by starting so early?

JANE HUME: No, I don't think so. We've been on an election footing for months now. In fact, Anthony Albanese has been out on the hustings and determined, according to his rhetoric, to have a full term, but at the same time, his actions speak differently. But we've been ready for an election for a long time now.

STEPHANIE MARCH: We haven't seen the leader Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton out yet. Is he going to be hitting the hustings soon as well with this sort of pseudo pre campaign campaign?

JANE HUME: Well, I think you have heard an awful lot from Peter Dutton in the lead up to Christmas, and there'll be more to come.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Everyone's talking about cost of living. What would a Coalition government do on day one, if you won the election to provide some immediate relief for people who are finding it really tough?

JANE HUME: Well, the most important thing to do to get the cost of living down is to get inflation down. And the only way to get inflation down is to make sure that the government is doing everything in its power, in its toolkit, to get inflation down and to work with the reserve bank so that your fiscal policy is working in line with your monetary policy. So far, the Reserve Bank has done all the heavy lifting, and we've seen 12 interest rate rises under this government, even though inflation has now begun to ease, it hasn't caused the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates. Yet, as the Reserve Bank or the central bank has in countries like the US, the UK, Sweden, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, all of those countries saw reductions in interest rates in 2024 but because inflation has stayed too high for too long in Australia, because of decisions that the government has made and the economic mismanagement of the Labor Government, we're yet to see that in Australia and Australians are paying an enormous price for that. We've seen cumulative interest rate rises of around, sorry, accumulative price rises of around 10% in the last two years.

STEPHANIE MARCH: We have seen inflation, though, as you say, start to come down. The markets are predicting a Reserve Bank, Reserve Bank rate cut in February is what the government's doing working though?

JANE HUME: Well, the Reserve Bank itself has said that it's not expecting to see inflation come sustainably back into band until the end of 2026 now that would be cold comfort for those thousands of Australians that hold a mortgage or that have a loan that have seen their interest rate rises increase so dramatically and so quickly, and of course, that's seen a rapid decline in living standards. In fact, the economic mismanagement of the Labor Government has seen a collapse of living standards in Australia that is the largest and the fastest on record, and we're now hearing from the government's own numbers that we're not expecting a restoration of those living standards until 2030 and that cumulative 10% rise in prices has really played out in Australians hip pockets.

STEPHANIE MARCH: We did hear from the RBA Governor, though, as well that making clear prices will not be going down no matter what happens, prices are not going to go back to what they were before these high levels of inflation. What would a Coalition do on day one to try and provide some relief for people?

JANE HUME: Well, to tackle the cost of living, you've got to tackle inflation, and to do that, you've got to do it at its source. We would make sure that energy prices come down by putting more energy into the system…

STEPHANIE MARCH: But what would you do on day one? That would take a long time.

JANE HUME: We’ve got to start with gas. It's got to start with putting more gas into the system to shore up the grid and to make sure that there is plenty of energy supply to bring down prices…

STEPHANIE MARCH: Would that happen immediately?

JANE HUME: Well, of course, it's not going to be a reduction in your energy bills on day one. The only way you can do that is through subsidies, which actually make the problem worse, because sustained increases in government spending push up inflation. And Michele Bullock has said that herself…

STEPHANIE MARCH: Not in isolation. She said it's, you can't just say that government spending in isolation has been pushing up inflation. Are you saying she's wrong?

JANE HUME: No, she said that was one of the reasons why inflation has gone up. It's one of the tools in the government's toolkit to bring inflation back down, but it's not one that this government has used. In fact, they've spent around $374 billion more than a Coalition government would have done, and that has pushed inflation up and made inflation stay higher for longer.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Addressing the cost of living crisis, though straight away, as you say, getting more gas into the system wouldn't happen immediately. Would you consider things like power bill relief? Would you do anything to try and take on the supermarkets, as the Government says they're doing, to try and give people something straight away? If the Coalition was to win that would help them at what you've said is a time that people are really struggling.

JANE HUME: Well, the Government's energy subsidies have actually made the problem worse. We're seeing that…

STEPHANIE MARCH: headline inflation…

JANE HUME: Yes, we're seeing that headline inflation come down, but unfortunately, it's just, as economists say, smoke and mirrors, the underlying electricity prices are still going up. In fact, they've gone up by around 32% in the last two and a half years. Food's gone up by 12 and a half percent. Energy, sorry, housing has gone up by around 13% so tackling those issues at their source is the way to get inflation down. So for instance, housing, if you can tackle that at the source by making sure that there's that there's that enabling infrastructure. That's an announcement that the Coalition have already made. Putting gas into the electricity system is an announcement that we've already made. In the long term, we would include nuclear in the energy grid to bring electricity prices down and to shore up the system. So there's plenty you can do, but the most important thing you can do is manage your budget, and there's been so much additional spending by this government that it's actually kept inflation higher for longer, and Australians are paying the price.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Well, we're going to hear a lot more about cost of living and inflation heading up to this election, just quickly, Meta has decided to ditch its independent fact checkers. Do you think it's a good decision or bad decision?

JANE HUME: Well, it's a business decision by meta. To tell you the truth, my concern with companies like meta, is that while they can make business decisions that suit them on issues like this, what is it that they're doing for their customers, and particularly young people, to keep them safe online.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Do you think it is going to have a negative impact, though, on users here in Australia?

JANE HUME: I don't know. That's a business decision entirely for Meta. My concern is the consumers of social media and what it is that they're seeing and how they can be protected.

STEPHANIE MARCH: It will have an impact on consumers, though.

JANE HUME: Well, we want to make sure that young people are protected online. Now, if meta can make decisions about its fact checking systems, that's terrific, but what is it doing to make sure that young people are being protected from inappropriate images? What is it that they're doing to make sure that young people are not using social media inappropriately?

STEPHANIE MARCH: Well Senator Hume, as I said we are going to hear a lot more about all these issues as the election campaign gets into full swing, thanks for joining us on News Breakfast.