Inflation figures

Liberal candidate for Eden Monaro, Jo van der Plaat and Hume MP and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor talk about inflation figures on January 8.

Transcript

00:00the last 30 years and for the last 20 of them I've raised a family, I've run a

00:04local legal practice and I've volunteered extensively. Look, the pain

00:08that is being felt by small business and families for the last two and a half

00:13years is certainly pain that I feel as well as a small business owner and a

00:18wife and mother. Today's inflation data for me is not just numbers on a page, it

00:25means something to the people that live in Edamonero. From the many local

00:29conversations that I've had over the last 12 months I can tell you that

00:34today's inflation data means continued reliance on community pantries and

00:39Phoenix food vouchers, it means delaying or not even going to the doctors, it

00:44means thinking about what you put in your trolley when you go to Woolies or

00:47Aldi, it means for small business some of them will really need to be thinking

00:53about whether or not they shut their doors or stop employing local staff. For

00:59me I think small business and households are really suffering in

01:03Edamonero and I can tell you that the message, the very clear message that is

01:07being sent to me when I speak to locals is that Labor does not know how to

01:12manage budgets. As a family and households and small business it's our

01:16responsibility to manage budgets, Labor is not doing that and the clear message

01:20that is being sent to me in Edamonero that it's time for a change and it's

01:25time to get Edamonero back on track. With that I'll pass to Angus.

01:30Well great to be here with Jo and she of course is fighting hard as a candidate

01:38for Edamonero. She understands the region well, she understands the concerns that

01:43people have right across this region whether it's Goldwyn or Cooma or

01:47Coimbiane or Bega. I know that Jo is out there every single day and fighting hard

01:54for the people of Edamonero and understanding most importantly the

01:57issues and what needs to happen to get this country in this region back on

02:02track. Now we've just seen the monthly inflation data out a few minutes ago, about an hour and a half or so ago.

02:11And the truth of the matter is what this, what these numbers show us is that this

02:16government is more interested in hiding inflation than in fighting inflation.

02:22This government is more interested in hiding inflation than fighting inflation.

02:26If you look at the individual numbers, headline inflation is up for the month.

02:33We see inflation excluding volatiles is up for the month. Core inflation is

02:40stubbornly above 3%, well above where we need it to be. And services inflation

02:46indeed, critical services inflation is above 4%. And all of this tells us that

02:53the government's been playing games, it's seeking to hide inflation but we know

02:57underlying inflation is not where it needs to be. Now you don't need to tell

03:01any Australians that, they know it. They see it in the bank account, they see it

03:05when they go to the checkout, they see it when they have to pay their bills. They

03:10are suffering and we know they're making tough decisions at a time like this

03:15whether it's the decision to dig deep into their savings to pay for those essentials,

03:20whether it's working extra hours or taking on indeed a second job in many

03:25cases, whether it's cutting back on those things that they've become used to and

03:30that their family is expected. And we know, we know there is not light at the

03:36end of the tunnel anytime soon.