‘Doing right thing’: Treasurer focused on economy not polls

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says inflation has halved since Labor took office but highlights there is still work to be done.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers flagged cost-of-living pressures but did not say he would give more handouts during his latest press conference.

Mr Chalmers said Australia had made strides in the battle against cost-of-living pressures, although he acknowledged there was still more work to do.

“We are making good progress in the fight against inflation although people are still doing it tough,” Mr Chalmers said.

He said his government was focusing on “doing the right thing” and letting the politics take care of itself

“We’ve tried to take a series of well-informed economic decisions, take the right economic decisions for the right reasons because I believe if you do that, the politics will take care of themselves,” Mr Chalmers said.

He said there was still a long way to go for Australia to lower cost-of-living pressures.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said cost-of-living pressures remained but stopped short of promising more budget relief. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“When it comes to inflation, in Australia we peaked later and lower than many other countries,” Mr Chalmers said.

“What we will continue to do is make the best decisions for Australians and we have budget constraints. We will manage those budget constraints.”

Mr Chalmers said the government had been coming at cost-of-living pressures from every conceivable and responsible angle.

“We’ve got our own approach to it, and that is already rolling out tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, cheaper medicines, cheaper early childhood education, rent assistance, getting wages moving again, this is substantial and meaningful cost-of-living health, but it’s also delivered in the most responsible way,” he continued.

Mr Chalmers also said weakening economic growth out of China, in particular, would put pressure on Australia going forward.

“People are still concerned about weakness in the Chinese economy, even after these measures have been announced to support growth in the Chinese economy,” he said.

“But the direction of travel from an Australian point of view is very welcome because if our forecast for Chinese growth in the economy over the next couple of years play out, as we expect them to do in the Treasury’s forecast, that would be the weakest period of Chinese growth since China opened up in the late 1970s, so a lot of concern about China, but the direction of travel, the kinds of steps flagged by the authorities are very welcome.”

Originally published as ‘Doing right thing’: Treasurer focused on economy not polls