QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator WALKER (South Australia) (15:18): Labor inherited a broken budget. Those opposite like to pretend that they are the better economic managers, but the stats really do suggest otherwise. Inflation has come down under Labor to between two and three per cent.

That's half of what we inherited. We've turned deficits into surpluses. Labor has delivered energy rebates.

Those opposite can't even figure out if they believe in climate change, let alone formulate an energy policy of their own. They are so broken—so much for meaning to be an alternative government; they can't even stop fighting with themselves. Labor is delivering budget discipline, and the opposition is delivering dysfunction.

Labor builds savings and stability; the Liberals are giving chaos. Only Labor can turn the economy around. The opposition can't even turn up with a decent plan.

When we came to office, there were deficits as far as the eye could see. We had a trillion dollars of Liberal debt and a budget that was weighed down with waste and rorts. We have made so much progress in this economy.

Headline and underlying inflation are down, at a four-year low. Real annual wages have been growing for around seven consecutive quarters. Our economy is still expanding.

Interest rates have been cut. More than 1.1 million jobs have been created since we came to government—that's a record for any government in a single term. The average unemployment rate is at the lowest rate of any government in 50 years.

Then there's the budget. We've turned two Liberal deficits into two Labor surpluses and have almost halved the deficit in our third year. The budget position has improved by more than $207 billion.

The debt is $177 billion lower in 2024-25, saving $60 billion in interest as a consequence. But we know that our job is not finished. We know that the Australian people are still under budget pressure, and that's why we are committed to delivering real, tangible cost-of-living relief and helping with the ongoing crisis, including eight changes that came into effect on 1 July and the stage 3 tax cuts, which the opposition opposed.

We know the importance of productivity. That's why we held the Economic Reform Roundtable—we know that we need to boost productivity, strengthen our economic resilience and improve budget sustainability. The best way to do that is to do it together.

At the election, Australians voted clearly. They wanted higher living standards, higher wages, secure work and well-paid jobs. That's what this government is working to deliver.

The Economic Reform Roundtable proved that there's more common ground and consensus than conflict around the big challenges that are facing our economy. Our policies include energy rebates, cheaper child care and our back-to-back boost to Commonwealth rent assistance. They have helped to directly reduce inflation when it was at its peak to allow time for the structural drivers of inflation to settle and for underlying inflation to return to the RBA's target band.

Since Labor was elected inflation has come down, debt has come down, real wages have grown, unemployment has been low and interest rates have fallen. While we've made good progress on the economy together, we recognise that the job is far from over, because people in Australia are still under budget pressure. That's why we're continuing to roll out responsible cost-of-living measures, including delivering tax cuts for every taxpayer, slashing student debt and delivering cheaper medicines and more bulk-billing.

Labor's economic plan is all about helping with the cost of living, and we know that it's time to modernise Australia's economy to boost living standards. We know the best way to improve living standards is to make our economy more productive and resilient and our budget more sustainable, and that's our focus. When we came to office, inflation was rising rapidly, and now it's much lower.

Underlying inflation was at almost five per cent when we came to office. It was at three per cent through the year to the September quarter. Headline inflation was at 3.2 per cent through the year to the September quarter.

The progress we've made on inflation has given the Reserve Bank confidence to cut rates three times this year. The global economy is volatile and uncertain—we know this. That impacts inflation and economies around the world.