Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite has defended the government’s economic management in the face of rising inflation, saying Labor is more focused on the wellbeing of Australians than the Coalition.
“We’ve made progress on inflation. When we came to government, it was in the sevens. We’ve got it down into the threes, but there’s more work to do. We know that, and the latest inflation figures were a little bit higher than we would have liked,” Thistlethwaite told Sky News this morning.
“[Tackling inflation] is our focus, and that’s what we’ll be discussing in our caucus meeting today, but you can bet your life those issues won’t be discussed in the Coalition party rooms this week. They’ll be focusing on themselves and the leadership spill that’s going on in the Nationals today, whether or not Sussan Ley will survive this sitting fortnight, and what positions each of them will be getting. So we’re focused on the issues that matter to Australians. [The] Coalition are focused on themselves,” he said.
Annual inflation rose to 3.8 per cent last week and underlying inflation to 3.3 per cent, sparking expectations that the Reserve Bank will need to lift interest rates tomorrow, or at least flag an impending rate rise.
Appearing alongside Thistlethwaite was Liberal senator Maria Kovacic, who acknowledged the public felt the Coalition were “talking about ourselves”, but accused the government of not knowing “how to run the economy”.
“When things go well, Treasurer Chalmers says it’s because of his good work. When things don’t go well, like this increase in inflation, Treasurer Chalmers says, ‘Oh no, it’s not our fault’. Give me a break,” Kovacic said.
Read the full article here
