Chalmers ‘doctor of spin’ over spending cuts call says Angus Taylor
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has derided Jim Chalmers after the Treasurer hit back at Coalition calls for the government to slash spending in the May budget.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has derided Jim Chalmers as a “doctor of spin,” after the Treasurer hit back at Coalition calls for the government to slash spending in the May budget, calling on Opposition Mr Taylor to “tell us where their cuts will come from.”
In response, Mr Taylor said Mr Chalmers was a “doctor of spin, not economics,” incorrectly referencing Mr Chalmer’s doctorate, which was in political science.
“The critical point here is that the cost of living relief that every Australian needs, wants and deserves is lower inflation - it benefits absolutely everybody,” Mr Taylor said.
“(Mr Chalmers) thinks the answer to the cost of living crisis is to put out a press release.
“Economists have understood for a long while that the best way to get (to lower inflation) is to make sure that governments are living within their means and we have a government here that has added $209b in spending so far.
“This is a government that has been adding a great deal of spending and we’re about to see more - that’s not how you beat inflation.”
Mr Taylor said economists had declared Australia as having the “most persistent inflation of any advanced country in the world”, but argued the Albanese government was not primed to solve the issue.
“The test for this budget is (whether) it is going to put down pressure on prices,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Chalmers hit back at Coalition calls for the government to slash spending in the May budget to assist in the fight against inflation, calling on Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor to “tell us where their cuts will come from.”
“We won’t take lectures on economic or budget management from the party that racked up a trillion dollars of debt with not enough to show for it and delivered us the worst decade of productivity growth in 60 years, falling real wages and rising inflation,” the Treasurer said. “When we came to office they left us higher inflation, rising interest rates, debt and deficit as far as the eye can see, and real wages were falling. Now real wages are growing, inflation is moderating, and we delivered the first surplus in 15 years.”
“Angus Taylor is as guilty as anyone for the waste and rorts that defined the economic mismanagement of our Liberal predecessors. They should come clean and tell us where their cuts will come from.”
“Will they cut Medicare like they tried to when Peter Dutton was health minister in the last Liberal government?” he asked.
The comments from Dr Chalmers come after the Coalition took aim at Labor’s growth and spending agenda amid concerns inflation in Australia will be higher for longer.
Mr Taylor said that Labor’s “wasteful spending and failing policies have just made the situation worse” and that bracket creep and commodity windfalls were delivering surpluses.
“That isn’t fiscal responsibility and it is not good budget management. Labor is taking from family budgets to bolster its own,” he said. “Australians deserve a government that manages the budget well to secure the prosperity of future generations. This requires growing the economy faster than government spending, while keeping a speed limit on taxes. Australians are not getting that under Labor.”