‘Shuddering to a halt’: Liberal Senator Jane Hume’s wild cost of living claim amid heated Sunrise exchange

A senior politician has claimed the Aussie economy is “shuddering to a halt” amid the cost of living crisis, but a Labor MP has fired back at the Liberals’ “finger pointing”.

Liberal Senator Jane Hume has claimed the economy is “shuddering to a halt”, accusing the government of relying too much on the central bank to do “all the heavy lifting” amid the cost of living crisis.

In a heated clash on breakfast television, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil fired back by accusing the Liberals of pointing fingers and trying to play politics while Australians suffered under rising costs and inflation.

The exchange follows the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announcing a brief reprieve from further rate rises.

Senator Hume said Australian households were “overwhelmed” with rising costs and accused Labor of relying on the central bank to do “all the heavy lifting.”

“Let’s face it, the economy is shuttering to a halt,” she told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

“Productivity has tanked.

“The only thing that has kept us out of recession is because we’re in a per capita recession.”

Senator Hume said households could not bear two more years of skyrocketing prices. Picture: Supplied

“Inflation isn‘t now at 5.2 per cent.

“It’s ticked up again, and unless Labor controls the cost of living pressures just as the RBA said – we’re going to continue with this pain for another two years.”

But Ms O’Neil said the government was heavily focused on easing living pressures on families and urged Senator Hume to stop pointing fingers.

“What I‘d love to hear from the Liberals is just a bit of unity of purpose here,” she said.

“There’s a lot we can do to try to help Australians and we are doing all the things that are at our disposal.

“We‘ve got to focus on those problems and not play politics.”

Average consumer prices rose up to 5.2 per cent in August, according to recent ABS figures, a sharp jump from the 4.9 per cent recorded in July.

The Shadow Finance Minister accused Ms O'Neil's government of lagging on economic action. Picture: Supplied.

The rise leaves households struggling with intensified cost pressures, including a litre of petrol costing up to $2.11 per litre.

Rent rates also went up by 7.8 per cent.

Monday’s RBA announcement to keep interest rates on hold for the fourth month in a row came also raised ears as it came alongside a stern warning that future rate rises were still on the cards.

A recent cost-of-living inquiry highlighted the impact of the relentless price squeeze facing Australians, with a committee in September hearing that the number of Australians on energy bill hardship programs was higher than the peak of Covid-19.

This came as both electricity prices and gas prices rose to 12.7 per cent in the year to August, according to official economic data.

Senator Hume flagged that more middle-income earners were being forced to access charities and food banks, pointing to Ms O’Neil’s recent migration reforms as the “only thing keeping Australia out of recession.”

“Claire’s overseen around 450,000 people [entering Australia] just in the last 12 months,” Ms Hume said.

Firing back, Ms O’Neil said while there were increased costs across the board “the, first, second and third focus of our government is trying to make sure that we are giving cost of living relief to Australians in a way that’s responsible for the budget.”

“You saw just recently 1.2 million Australian households benefit from increase in childcare subsidies. We‘ve got radical changes to make sure that people can get bulk billing at the doctor. We've got big changes to energy so 5 million households eligible for up to $500 in support,” she said.

Originally published as ‘Shuddering to a halt’: Liberal Senator Jane Hume’s wild cost of living claim amid heated Sunrise exchange