00:02Inflation that we saw in the month of March was a story about higher petrol prices, higher
00:07petrol prices are all about the war in the Middle East.
00:10I think any objective observer would conclude that.
00:14Now when it comes to decisions taken in Washington DC or indeed in Tehran, Australians are hostage
00:21to those decisions taken about the conduct of this war and the end of this war.
00:26I think that's self-evident.
00:28But from an economic point of view, from the point of view of a lot of Australians battling
00:33with these cost of living pressures, this war in the Middle East can't come soon enough.
00:38And we've said that in different ways in recent times.
00:41Now obviously I'm not going to get into a kind of a rolling critique of the conduct of the
00:48war, but my job is to manage the Australian economy and the Australian economy is getting
00:54absolutely pummeled by this war in the Middle East.
00:58And Australians are paying the price for that.
01:00The tax cuts that this government has offered to date have been consumed by Jim Chalmers'
01:06active inflation agenda and any earned income offset is likely to experience the same problems.
01:13This government has a consistent pattern of behaviour, which is to fuel inflation, then tax the inflation,
01:21then spend that inflation and keep the cycle going.
01:24And until they stop pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire, Australian households will continue
01:31to pay a high price.
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