The Albanese government can't lie its way out of this one.
asserted
government → lie → one
Australians know that they are shirking their responsibility for too much spending, which is stoking inflation.
asserted
which → know → inflation
Commonwealth spending reached 26.9 per cent of GDP last financial year, its highest share in four decades outside of the pandemic.
asserted
spending → reach → pandemic
It makes the government's self-congratulation about spending restraint hard to stomach.
asserted
congratulation → make → restraint
They can deny, attack economists who challenge the excuses and blame everyone from Donald Trump to Scott Morrison all that they like.
asserted
they → deny → that
But none of that removes a dollar of demand from the economy or pays a cent of the extra interest on voters' mortgages.
asserted
none → remove → mortgages
You can't spin away high inflation, and you can't make excessive government spending harmless by insisting that it is.
asserted
it → spin → inflation
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher tried that, declaring that 'the challenges that we're having now in relation to inflation are not caused by government spending'.
asserted
we → try → spending
The minister responsible for controlling expenditure has absolved that expenditure of responsibility.
asserted
minister → control → responsibility
It's also plainly untrue, as the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock, pointed out at her media conference on Wednesday.
asserted
Governor → point → Wednesday
Our finance minister, who doesn't have an economics qualification, by the way, either doesn't know what she's talking about or is being deliberately misleading.
asserted
she → have → what
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher declared that 'the challenges that we're having now in relation to inflation are not caused by government spending'
Bullock explained that inflation has been 'driven by domestic capacity pressures'.
asserted
inflation → declare → pressures
The Middle East shock came on top of an existing problem.
asserted
shock → come → problem
The bank started raising rates before the conflict even began, proving the point that domestic factors were at play, and now hiding behind the Iran conflict isn't good enough.
asserted
hiding → start → conflict
Bullock also confirmed that public and private demand both contribute to aggregate demand, which means that government spending is part of the problem.
asserted
spending → confirm → problem
Labor can't simply blame the private sector for the inflation problem.
asserted
Labor → blame → problem
Governments compete with households and businesses for workers, materials and services.
asserted
Governments → compete → workers
When demand exceeds what the economy can supply, public spending adds to the pressure.
asserted
spending → exceed → pressure
Its economic effect doesn't disappear because a minister approves of its purpose.
asserted
minister → disappear → purpose
Nobody needs to deny the impact of war or higher oil prices as part of the problem in order to recognise Canberra's responsibility here.
asserted
Nobody → need → responsibility
The government can't control what happens in the Middle East, we know that.
asserted
we → control → that
But it can control its own budget.
asserted
it → control → budget
Labor has become accustomed to treating promises as things you make to win elections, then break afterwards when votes aren't on the line.
asserted
votes → become → line
Before the 2022 election, Australians were told the legislated stage three income tax cuts would stay.
asserted
cuts → tell → election
They were rewritten.
asserted
They → rewrite → ?
Higher taxes on large balances soon followed.
asserted
taxes → follow → balances
The promised $275 annual reduction in electricity bills never arrived either.
asserted
reduction → promise → bills
Before the 2025 election, changes to negative gearing and capital gains taxes were ruled out.
asserted
changes → rule → gearing
Once the votes were counted, those assurances proved disposable too.
asserted
assurances → count → ?
Call them lies or broken promises, either way the pattern is unmistakable: Team Albo reassures voters before polling day, then expects them to swallow the backflip afterwards, in the hope that memories fade by the time the next election rolls around.
asserted
election → call → time
Michele Bullock pointed out at her media conference on Wednesday that it was plainly untrue government spending had nothing to do with inflation
Team Albo reassures voters before polling day, then expects them to swallow the backflip afterwards, in the hope that memories fade by the time the next election rolls around
Some of these changes might be defensible on policy merits, but that's not the point.
uncertain
that → point → merits
It doesn't make the original promises true, nor absolve Labor from breaking them.
Especially without first giving voters a chance to judge them for the shift.
asserted
promises → make → shift
The government now faces a problem that can't be overcome by spin, explaining why yesterday's solemn assurance no longer applies.
asserted
assurance → face → spin
Fiscal policy (government spending) should help monetary policy (the setting of interest rates) bring demand into line with supply.
asserted
policy → help → supply
That means deferring lower-priority spending, cutting waste and funding essential commitments by making savings elsewhere.
asserted
That → mean → savings
You can't tell me a 40-year (non-pandemic) high in government spending is showing fiscal restraint!
asserted
high → tell → restraint
Australian governments have become addicted to spending and, having become addicted, they don't have the courage to enter rehab and do something about it.
asserted
they → become → it
Labor is approaching four and a half years in office.
asserted
Labor → approach → office
The previous government's failures, as real as they were, can't be an excuse for this government also failing this far into their tenure.
asserted
government → fail → tenure
Labor's excuses are freely delivered.
asserted
excuses → deliver → ?
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
