Patricia Karvelas:
For a view from the government, I spoke to Anne Aly, who’s the Minister for Small Business, Multicultural Affairs and International Development, and I spoke to her a short time ago.
Minister, welcome to the program.
Anne Aly:
Thank you, Patricia.
Karvelas:
Underlying inflation has failed to slow as much as economists expected, and of course, everyone needed, to happen. What does it tell us about inflation? Why can’t we get it under control?
Aly:
There is an inflation challenge in Australia, but headline inflation did come down from 3.8 to 3.5. that’s good news. We don’t deny that there is an inflation issue that the government has to deal with. A lot of that has to do with things that are out of our control. The inflation figure is highly vulnerable to global events, but it has been coming down slightly. I will remind everyone that when we took office, inflation had a 6 at the front of it. It’s come down steadily over that period. That by no means suggests that the job is well and done. We understand that inflation is still persistently high and we still need to do everything that we can to keep bringing that down.
One of the reasons that headline inflation did come down is because energy prices decreased by about 1.6 per cent. That has a big part to play in that, that headline inflation coming down, which suggests that the stuff that we’ve been doing on cost‑of‑living relief, particularly in the energy space, has been helping.
But I will say, compared to other advanced economies, we’re doing pretty well on the inflation front. We also have low unemployment, steady wage growth, and business investment is the highest that it’s ever been. I mean, last month was a record for the number of businesses that started in Australia.
Karvelas:
But underlying inflation is the measure, of course, the Reserve Bank looks at when it makes its rates decisions. And on this result, it has universally been seen as leading to a likely interest rate hike this year, an increase. Don’t you think households have had enough of that? And businesses too, who have, of course, loans, they look like they’re going to face potentially an interest rate rise.
Aly:
We do not deny for one second the impact that inflation that is persistently, and being quite sticky, as the Treasurer would say, at this rate has on both households and businesses, and particularly the impact that it has on interest rates. As I said, Patricia, we’ll continue to work to keep bringing inflation down as much as we possibly can. There are things that are in our control; there are fiscal measures in our control. But there are things that inflation is very volatile to, like global events, like what’s happening with the war in the Strait of Hormuz. We’ll continue to do everything that we can to ease cost‑of‑living pressures on Australia. But by international standards, and certainly compared to other advanced economies, Australia is doing pretty well.
Karvelas:
Yeah, but when people see this result, you’ve seen the rise of One Nation, do you look at this and think, well, that’s just going to continue, isn’t it? People are really frustrated. Their cost of living is just not getting under control, and in fact they’re staring down the barrel of another interest rate rise.
Aly:
And that’s why we have a government that does not for one second take for granted the fact that, you know, we are in government, we are doing everything that we can to ease those cost‑of‑living pressures. We are highly cognisant of those cost‑of‑living pressures and what that means for people. It’s why we’ve taken steps to fix a broken housing market to ensure that people can aspire to owning their own homes; when for years that was something that was becoming a lost dream to many Australians. It’s why we’ve reduced the cost of medicines. We’ve got more medicines on the PBS. We’ve got –
Karvelas:
Is there a case in MYEFO, and I’m very rude to interrupt –
Aly:
No, that’s okay.
Karvelas:
Just in MYEFO that’s coming up in December, is there a case of pulling even more money out of the economy? Because, you know, obviously the amount that the federal government spends is key here too. Do you need to look to tighten your belt even further given inflation is so stubborn?
Aly:
I think the message is very clear that, we do have to be very responsible in our spending. And I think the last Budget did demonstrate a responsible budget. But we also have to measure the fact, that we have things like, for example, really key Australian institutions, the NDIS, our pension, all of those things that need to be spent on. It’s why we’ve done things like NDIS reform, to bring it back into a sustainable level. So, government spending always comes with – as much as we try to curb government spending and we are curbing government spending and very aware of that responsibility, you also have to balance it with the services that we provide to Australians.
Karvelas:
You’re the Minister for International Development. Multiple international law experts have argued in the Nine papers today there should be an MH17‑style joint criminal investigation into the killing of aid worker Zomi Frankcom. Do you think that needs to be considered?
Aly:
Look, I think first of all that when Penny Wong, as a Foreign Minister, expressed her and the government’s outrage at the Israeli government’s decision not to pursue criminal investigations into the murder of Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues at the World Central Kitchen, I think she spoke for all Australians in this regard. We will continue to pursue justice for Zomi and her family in conjunction with her family. I know that the Foreign Minister, Penny, is in consistent contact with Zomi’s family and doing it in a way that brings them in and is in accordance with their wishes.
Karvelas:
And is this something that’s been considered?
Aly:
I don’t know, to be honest with you, Patricia. Again, I would say that that is something that will be worked out with Zomi’s family. I think it’s highly respectful that we do that with Zomi’s family and work with them along the way. But that, to just really reiterate that message, that we are determined –
Karvelas:
And that was Anne Aly, Minister for Small Business, Multicultural Affairs and International Development. We cut that short because the Prime Minister and the premiers are speaking after today’s National Cabinet meeting.