Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House.
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Gould → welcome → House
Under pressure from opponents after another interest rate hike and more bad inflation news, the last thing Anthony Albanese needed was free advice from his own side.
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Albanese → need → side
But that's what the prime minister got this week when fellow a Labor leader, NSW Premier Chris Minns, weighed in on the impact of government spending on Australia's economic woes.
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fellow → get → woes
Albanese and Minns have been downplaying reports they've had something of a falling out recently.
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they → downplay → falling
First, there were reports that the relationship between the prime minister and the NSW premier had deteriorated after the Bondi terror attack in December last year.
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relationship → be → December
Then came Minns's frustration over the tobacco tax excise, GST carve-up and hospital bed funding — to name a few issues said to have caused tension.
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frustration → come → tension
But off the back of headline inflation jumping to 4 per cent and an interest rate hike this week, Minns seemed to add another gripe to his list: government spending.
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Minns → jump → spending
"I'm not going to make a long commentary about other governments.
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I → go → governments
It's up to them and their decisions, obviously," Minns said.
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Minns → say → them
"But we want to make it clear that we've been careful with public money, particularly the growth in public money, and that will continue if we're re-elected next March."
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we → want → money
With an election of his own around the corner, Minns did not come to Treasurer Jim Chalmers's defence and again distanced himself from his federal Labor counterparts.
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Minns → come → counterparts
He wants voters to blame them, not him, when they head to the polls next March.
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they → want → polls
It's the kind of jab more likely to come from the Coalition than a politically aligned leader; case in point was a speech from Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki.
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case → come → Janetzki
He used his address to the National Press Club on Wednesday to take a swing over the GST and cost-shifting.
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He → use → GST
Former RBA governor Philip Lowe also popped up.
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Lowe → pop → ?
He reckons the government should be running surpluses off the back of a near record-high tax take.
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government → reckon → take
It's not — and the intergenerational report handed down last week predicted there are 40 years of deficits to come.
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report → hand → deficits
Albanese and Chalmers had been on the defensive all week over the government's economic record, arguing the Middle East war is turbocharging inflation, not government spending.
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war → argue → inflation
RBA Governor Michele Bullock didn't want to engage in the "blame game" when asked after the bank's board hiked the cash rate to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent.
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board → want → cent
But she did say inflation had been too high before the war and "domestic capacity measures" only added to it.
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measures → say → it
Sluggish productivity was "doing nothing" to help the matter.
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productivity → do → matter
Both the prime minister and treasurer rebuffed Minns's swipe when asked.
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minister → rebuff → swipe
Just like with the question of if they're at odds with Bullock, there is nothing to see here, they claim.
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they → be → Bullock
Chalmers spent the week arguing that the government has been responsible in its spending decisions.
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government → spend → decisions
Asked if more drastic action was required, he accepted there was always more work to do.
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he → ask → ?
A tough love approach to tackling inflation typically means cutting spending.
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approach → tackle → spending
But that won't necessarily sit well with a cohort of cash-strapped voters already looking elsewhere, including to One Nation, for the answers.
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that → sit → answers
Perhaps that's why by Wednesday, Albanese was already flagging more cost-of-living relief in the mid-year budget update in December.
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Albanese → flag → December
What form it will take has yet to be revealed.
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take → take → form
Chalmers insists it won't be another cut to the fuel excise.
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it → insist → excise
Coalition's make-or-break moment
The next three months could make or break Angus Taylor's leadership.
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months → make → leadership
Momentum over government spending could provide him with an opportunity.
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Momentum → provide → opportunity
The Coalition, or more specifically Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson, have long been trying to make "Jimflation" happen.
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Jimflation → try → ?
Taylor wrote to the prime minister back in February calling for a taskforce on spending restraint.
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Taylor → write → restraint
He seized on this week's gloomy economic picture to prosecute the argument that Chalmers had lost control of the economy.
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Chalmers → seize → economy
Complicating the Coalition's argument is that they have backed themselves into their own big spending corner.
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they → complicate → corner
Their promise to combat bracket creep by indexing tax brackets to inflation would be enormously expensive.
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promise → combat → inflation
Paired with their plan to slash the tobacco excise and cut the fuel excise every time the two week average global oil price jumps over US$100 ($140) a barrel, that would inject a lot of extra cash into the economy when inflation is already running hot.
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inflation → pair → economy
The Coalition argues all that spending will be offset elsewhere: the fuel excise will be funded, for example, by people buying more legal cigarettes once the excise on tobacco drops.
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excise → argue → tobacco
Further offsets will be revealed closer to the 2028 election.
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offsets → reveal → election
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
