Fiery debate between Bill Shorten and Jane Hume sparked after question on government spending

Senior government minister Bill Shorten has sparked a fiery debate with the opposition after he claimed the Liberal Party wants to put Australia in a recession.

Senior Albanese government minister Bill Shorten has labelled the Liberal Party as “recession makers” in fiery clash with opposition spokeswoman Jane Hume over tackling inflation.

Speaking on ABC’s Q+A on Monday, Mr Shorten said the Liberal Party wanted Australia to go into a recession in order to “fix” the nation’s inflation problem.

Bill Shorten labelled the opposition as “recession makers”. Picture: ABC

“You guys are recession makers, own it, be proud,” Mr Shorten said in response to opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume.

“You can either be a recession maker, and that’s what the Conservatives are. They want us to go into recession because they think that is the only way to fix this”

The debate came after Canberra mother Megan questioned whether the government’s cost of living spending was causing interest rates to rise and placing more “pain” on Australian household rather than tackle inflation which was 3.8 per cent for the June quarter.

Inflation is staying persistently above the 2-3 per cent target range for the Reserve Bank, leading he RBA to keep the official cash rate at 4.35 cent, with warnings they won’t cut the rate this year.

Despite the RBA inferring government spending was not helping, Mr Shorten said government expenditure was not “pumping up inflation”.

“Yes, we have increased the age pension by 120 bucks a fortnight in the last two years. Yes, we have increased the Disability Support Pension by about 120 bucks over the last two years. Yes, we are going to pay early childhood educators a pay rise,” he said.

Canberra mother, Megan questioned whether government spending is driving inflation. Picture: ABC

“Yes, we have supported wage rises for millions of people. Yes, we have supported 2.8 million people under $45,000 a year getting access to the tax cut which was otherwise reserved for the top end.”

However, despite significant government expenditure on cost of living measures, Mr Shorten said inflation rates were not the fault of the “ordinary person” or Australians receiving income support.

Senator Hume hit back at Mr Shorten’s claim that the opposition were “recession makers”, labelling the comment as “nonsense”.

“What about $2bn on the suburban rail loop in Victoria, a project that doesn’t even have a business case that’s stacked up?” Senator Hume questioned.

“What about a billion dollars to create solar solar panels that are never going to be competitive?”

Jane Hume said Mr Shorten’s claims were “nonsense”. Picture: ABC

After Senator Hume questioned Mr Shorten’s $620,000 spending on a speech writer to “sound more empathetic”, Mr Shorten took aim at the opposition’s spending on “very rich companies” during the Covid pandemic.

“We’d like some of that back in an ideal world,” Mr Shorten said.

While Senator Hume conceded inflation was not entirely the fault of the Labor government, she said the party has failed to tackle it.

“Even if inflation isn’t all your fault, it absolutely is your problem, and you’re not doing enough,” she said.

“People are paying more for longer and higher mortgages for longer because you have not tackled inflation.”

Originally published as Fiery debate between Bill Shorten and Jane Hume sparked after question on government spending