Anthony Albanese wants you to slash your family budget... so he doesn't have to touch his.
asserted
he → want → his
Behind the government's supposed sympathy for mortgage-stressed Australians lies an ugly choice.
asserted
choice → suppose → Australians
The government's priority is protecting its spending promises.
asserted
priority → protect → promises
Meanwhile, households struggle to pay the mortgage.
asserted
households → struggle → mortgage
It means facing angry interest groups and defending tough decisions to cut.
asserted
It → mean → decisions
That leaves more of the dirty work to the Reserve Bank - which hands the bill to borrowers instead.
asserted
which → leave → borrowers
Taming inflation is never painless.
asserted
Taming → tame → inflation
But who carries the pain is a choice.
asserted
carries → carry → pain
A government that fiercely protects its spending programs - when its spending is at record highs and households are forced to cut theirs - is making its priorities painfully clear.
asserted
priorities → protect → theirs
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has declared - incredibly - that 'the challenges that we're having now in relation to inflation are not caused by government spending'
asserted
we → declare → spending
Voters need to remember that choice as the election gets closer and rates keep rising but government spending doesn't come down.
asserted
spending → need → choice
How Australia got into this situation isn't a mystery.
asserted
got → get → situation
Before the last election, Labor promised a $8.5 billion Medicare package for bulk billing, another $1.8 billion in electricity bill rebates, $2.3 billion in home battery subsidies, alongside wiping 20 per cent off student debts worth more than $16 billion.
asserted
Labor → promise → debts
That's all money pouring into the economy.
asserted
That → pour → economy
When government spending outstrips what the economy can sustainably supply, prices rise.
asserted
prices → outstrip → what
So the Reserve Bank raises interest rates in a bid to squeeze demand.
asserted
Bank → raise → demand
Mortgage repayments rise and families cut back.
asserted
families → rise → ?
Businesses delay investments, and eventually unemployment rises.
asserted
unemployment → delay → investments
It doesn't need to be like this.
asserted
It → need → this
Canberra has a Budget too.
asserted
Canberra → have → Budget
By reducing, deferring or better targeting its expenditure, the government can help take pressure off demand and give the Reserve Bank less work to do, making it less likely that rates need to go up.
asserted
rates → reduce → work
It wouldn't guarantee an immediate rate cut.
asserted
It → guarantee → cut
But it would help reduce the pressure that keeps rates higher than they otherwise need to be.
asserted
they → help → rates
That makes spending restraint a choice Labor must answer for not adequately pursuing.
asserted
Labor → make → ?
Instead, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher declared - incredibly - in a TV interview on Monday that 'the challenges that we're having now in relation to inflation are not caused by government spending'.
asserted
we → declare → spending
It's a genuinely frightening insight into her incompetence as a minister, not to mention the mindset of the government she's part of.
asserted
she → mention → government
Apparently everyone else's spending can be part of the problem - hers gets a hall pass.
asserted
hers → get → pass
The government keeps pointing the blame overseas.
asserted
government → keep → blame
Yes, the war in Iran has made matters worse than they otherwise would have been.
asserted
they → make → Iran
Labor can't simply wish them away.
asserted
Labor → wish → them
The Prime Minister wants you to slash your family budget... so he doesn't have to touch his
But Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock has made clear that inflation was already too high before the conflict in the Middle East began.
asserted
conflict → want → East
An overseas shock is a reason to get the domestic settings right, not an excuse for refusing to confront the problem fiscally, leaving the pain of addressing it to borrowers.
asserted
settings → get → borrowers
Ministers will always have worthy explanations for their spending programs.
asserted
Ministers → have → programs
But declaring expenditure worthwhile does not establish that every dollar must be spent now, at its current scale, regardless of the pressure elsewhere in the economy.
asserted
dollar → declare → economy
Families have worthwhile reasons for their spending, too.
asserted
Families → have → spending
Restraint needn't mean indiscriminate cuts to essential services.
asserted
Restraint → mean → services
The government could start with trimming poorly targeted subsidies and cutting or deferring lower-priority projects and spending commitments.
uncertain
government → start → projects
They can protect expenditure that genuinely expands productive capacity.
asserted
that → protect → capacity
That's governing.
asserted
That → govern → ?
But Australian governments are spending at record levels.
asserted
governments → spend → levels
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
