00:00This interest rate rise is certainly not what the Albanese government wanted.
00:07Treasurer Jim Chalmers has moved to defend the government's record,
00:12saying that this rate hike is not attributed to government spending,
00:16but rather a rise in private demand.
00:19However, that is going to be a tough sell for Australians
00:22who are struggling to pay off their mortgages
00:24and families who are really buckling under the weight of rising cost of living.
00:29Now, Finance Minister Katie Gallagher spoke to the ABC earlier this morning
00:34where she said that the government recognises
00:36that it must deal with this persistent challenge of inflation
00:40and it will do so in the upcoming budget.
00:43When you look at the budget, the large parts of the budget
00:46are the social security system and welfare payments,
00:49their education payments, their health payments,
00:53their areas like their defence.
00:54You know, they are the big components in the budget.
00:57And so, you know, when we look at how we find savings in the budget,
01:00yes, we need to continue to do so.
01:02But, you know, it's a hard job because we want to make sure
01:06that we're managing the impact on people as well.
01:09Now, the opposition has, of course, been eager to capitalise on this problem,
01:14taking a break from weeks of infighting.
01:17And while the RBA says this decision was mainly driven
01:20by stronger-than-expected growth in household and business spending,
01:24Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien said that the Albanese government is to blame.
01:29He says that the government has not been doing enough
01:31to keep inflation at bay and he says that the government
01:33has essentially been spending money that it doesn't have.
01:37This, of course, is a really sore point for the Albanese government
01:41and we can expect the opposition to continue going hard on this today.
01:45And, Sam, the opposition leader, Susan Lee,
01:47has addressed speculation of a leadership challenge this morning.
01:50What has she had to say about that?
01:51Yeah, that's right.
01:52So, Liberal Party leader Susan Lee has moved to downplay speculation
01:58of a potential leadership challenge within weeks as ridiculous.
02:02Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor made headlines recently
02:06when he attended a private meeting alongside Andrew Hastie
02:09and other senior Conservatives to discuss a leadership challenge
02:14ahead of a funeral for former Liberal MP Dr Katie Allen.
02:17A day later, Andrew Hastie pulled out of the leadership race,
02:21opening up the runway for Angus Taylor to make a move.
02:25But, Susan Lee, she spoke to the ABC earlier today
02:28where she said that she's not worried about the threat
02:30of a leadership challenge anytime soon.
02:33These are ridiculous suggestions and they're made by people in the media.
02:36They're not the conversations that I'm having with colleagues
02:39and they're not the focus of my team.
02:41And I really mean that, James.
02:42Now, in terms of the Coalition getting back together,
02:46discussions between the Liberals and the Nationals are ongoing.
02:50The Nationals are yet to respond to a list of demands
02:53put forward by the Liberal Party
02:55as a condition of the Coalition being reunited.
02:59Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce,
03:01who defected to One Nation last year,
03:04says that some of his former colleagues
03:06are clearly seeing the value in One Nation's policies.
03:09Here he is.
03:10What they're following is obviously the policies of One Nation
03:14and they're following policies of One Nation
03:16because the policies obviously resonate with the community
03:18as reflected in the polls.
03:21Now, what this unfortunately seems to have done
03:24is there seems to be a real sort of malaise confusion
03:27and division within the Coalition
03:29and no longer the Coalition,
03:31the Liberal Party and the National Party.
03:33I think it's unbecoming of the Chamber.
03:34Now, the Nationals do want to get back with the Coalition,
03:40but they've made it clear that they want
03:41the three Nationals frontbenchers
03:43who were demoted for crossing the floor
03:45on Labor's hate speech laws
03:46to be reinstated to Susan Lee's frontbench.
03:50And they also want the rules around shadow cabinet solidarity
03:52to be looked at so that they are more lenient.
03:55In terms of what's coming up today,
03:57Susan Lee is expected to have another meeting
04:00with Dave a little proud,
04:01so we could be expecting another announcement
04:03perhaps later today.
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