Mark Bouris says the government has done ‘stuff all’ in regards to reeling in inflation
Mark Bouris has come out swinging with some hard truths for the Australian public as the nation scrapes its way back from hell.
Economy
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Australian economics commentator Mark Bouris has come out swinging with some hard truths for the Australian government as the nation scrapes its way back to “sustainable” inflation levels.
Regular Aussies have been put through the ringer, spending most of the past three years of fighting tooth and nail to keep afloat as prices for everyday essentials and housing skyrocket.
Not since the 1990s has the nation experienced such a fast price increase, and it’s safe to say millions are absolutely fed up.
What was once lauded as “the lucky country” has now turned people on low to average wages into a class of “working poor”, with trips to grocery stores now seen as a luxury.
As the topic of the election slowly enters the Aussie conversation for 2025, Bouris has sent a message to every Australian voter who might have been swayed by a brand of political messaging that’s sure to feature in certain campaign adverts.
While it may seem like inflation has “slowed down”, the reality is we’re still paying exorbitant prices for things; merely, the rate of increase is much less ferocious than a couple of years ago.
And it’s common for political parties to jump on a sliver of good news and claim it as their own success.
But Bouris says don’t be fooled.
“The government has done stuff all in relation to the reduction in inflation,” he said in a video released Monday afternoon, a day before the RBA’s expected rate cuts.
Bouris congratulated Australia’s workers for holding out through the storm and suggested there may be a glint of light at the end of the tunnel.
“You’ve done it. This is a message for every Australian who has felt the rising cost of living over the past three years.
“It’s absolutely crystal clear that the cost of living in this country, across everything that we pay for, food, electricity, petrol, school fees, coffee, have gone up tremendously. More than we’ve ever seen in a long, long time.
“The good news is inflation is finally under control. As a result, we may get an interest rate cut on February 18 or definitely at some point this year.”
“This is the message to all Australians though. Congratulations, you did it. You endured it, you constrained your spending, you responded to all the restrictive environments, that is high interest rates that resulted in higher rents.
“You’ve worked and endured your way through that.”
Bouris stuck the boot into the Albanese government, which has presided over one of the toughest periods for the average Aussie household in recent memory.
“Don’t be fooled by the narrative that’s going to come at you in this election year that the government’s done it. The government’s done stuff all.
“We’re not going backwards, we’re just growing at a much more acceptable rate.
“But just remember, you (the public) did all the hard work. Not often enough do the people of this country get the credit for what we’ve done.
“Nobody asked you to do it, they forced it on you and you accepted it. You did it.
“So just remember, every single time you see somebody patting themselves on the back for the fact inflation is much lower, remember there’s only one mob of people who have done it, and that is Australian people themselves.”
Rate cut ‘is on’
A rate cut is looking increasingly likely in February, with three of Australia’s big four banks now predicting the Reserve Bank will move sooner than expected following lower-than-anticipated inflation data.
Westpac’s chief economist Luci Ellis brought forward her forecast for a rate cut by three months, now expecting the RBA to lower the official cash rate from 4.35 per cent at its February board meeting.
“With trimmed mean inflation at 0.5 per cent in the quarter (3.2 per cent year), we have just enough evidence to conclude that disinflation has proceeded faster than the RBA expected, so the board will have the required confidence to start the rate-cutting phase in February,” she said.
The Commonwealth Bank and ANZ had already forecast the RBA would cut rates at its February 17-18 meeting. NAB, which had previously predicted a May rate cut, has now said its cash rate forecast is under review.
The latest inflation figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released on Wednesday, showed trimmed mean inflation at 0.5 per cent for the December quarter, with the annual rate falling to 3.2 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent in the September quarter.
This came in below the RBA’s forecast of 3.4 per cent annual trimmed mean inflation and 0.7 per cent for the December quarter.
Headline inflation, which includes more volatile CPI components, rose by just 0.2 per cent in the December quarter, bringing the annual figure to 2.4 per cent for the 12 months ending December 31.
With inflation cooling faster than expected, pressure is mounting on the RBA to shift gears, but we won’t know exactly which way they’ve swayed until tomorrow.
What about wage growth?
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed real wages grew for four consecutive quarters under the Albanese government in 2024, marking the strongest rate of real wage growth in four years.
The Wage Price Index rose 0.8 per cent in the last quarter, bringing annual wage growth to 3.5 per cent.
Adjusted for inflation, real wages increased by 0.7 per cent over the year to September 2024.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the data but acknowledged that many Australians are still feeling financial pressure.
“That’s why the Government’s primary focus is rolling out responsible cost-of-living relief,” he said, pointing to tax cuts, energy bill subsidies, cheaper medicines and child care, and student debt relief.
While all those look good on paper, at the end of the day millions of Aussies are still feeling worse off than compared to a few years ago.
Labor has acknowledged the 30 per cent of Australians with mortgages being kicked by interest rate rises, but renters continue to feel left out of the conversation as their excess cash, normally put away for a home deposit, gets set aside to fund their landlord’s mortgage via a rent rise.
Labor has begun to frame it as a win, but a mere ease on inflation isn’t necessarily an out-and-out triumph that fixes the new reality of living in Australia on an average wage.
Nevertheless, Mr Chalmers has been urging Aussies to be optimistic, heading into the new year after year, which is defined by high housing, grocery, and energy costs.
But his opposition counterpart Angus Taylor warned regaining the living standards enjoyed in 2022 was still some time away.
“Under the Albanese Labor government, hardworking Australians are enduring the steepest decline in living standards on record,” Mr Taylor said in January.
“Not only is this completely unprecedented in our history, it’s also unparalleled anywhere else in the world.”
Pointing to official household forecast incomes and population trends, he said living standards would in June still be 7 per cent behind what they were when Labor entered government in 2022.
It would take until 2030 for things to level out on the current trajectory, according to Mr Taylor.
“No amount of spin or unfounded optimism from the Treasurer will restore the financial losses hardworking households have incurred under Labor,” he said.
“The new year of 2025 offers no relief under this failing government.”
Punters weigh in
Bouris’ online audience quickly flooded his comment section, sharing their perilous experiences during the recent period of high inflation rates.
“I think we were forced to do it, simply because we can’t afford anything anymore,” one agreed.
One explained they had been “Spending only on needs, not wants,” while another claimed to said, “moving in with parents.”
One commenter broke down their dire living situation in the current economic climate.
“Can’t even rent, even with working rents, almost my full pay can’t even get a one-bed unit that’s under $500 a week,” they said.
“Leaves me like $200, $300 if I’m frugal.
“I want a car and a home, but that’s never going to happen with both Libs and Labor out to bend us all over a barrel.”
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