Two-minute Statement
28 November 2024
I hope you all have a lovely break over the summer with family and friends. While we break, I just wanted to remind everyone in this chamber of the fantastic approach that the Albanese Labor government has taken to our economy, particularly under the leadership of our Treasurer and our finance minister here, who’s in the chamber, Senator Katy Gallagher. Our approach would be completely unrecognisable to those opposite. There are three things I want to mention: first, we’ve banked the majority of upward revisions to revenue, whereas those opposite would have actually spent most of them. We’ve also found almost $80 billion in savings, whereas those opposite had no savings measured in their last budget—none. And we’ve exercised spending restraint, with average real spending growth around a third of what they had averaged. Wow! What a Christmas gift. What a Christmas gift. This approach has enabled us to also support Australians during the cost-of-living crisis that they are experiencing at the moment. Under Labor, more people are in jobs, and they are earning more. With our tax plan, they get to keep more of what they earn. Real wages have grown more in the last 12 months alone than they did in the entire decade of the former coalition government.
Prices are rising at the slowest pace in almost four years. Don’t forget that inflation had a 6 in front, and what does it have now, colleagues? It has a 2 in front. Thanks to the work of Katy Gallagher and Jim Chalmers, we are much better as a nation.
