00:01There is a blame game playing out here in Parliament House over who is responsible for
00:07what when it comes to the latest inflation figures.
00:10The government is pointing the finger at the war in the Middle East but the coalition says
00:16that government spending is to blame and that the government needs to find more savings
00:21in its budget.
00:23Now it's widely acknowledged that the inflation figures are higher than would be liked.
00:27Inflation came in at 4.3% in the 12 months to September, that's up from 4% the month
00:35prior.
00:36And it puts inflation well beyond the reach of what the RBA's target would be and it means
00:45that another rate hike next month is becoming increasingly likely.
00:50Now the coalition have kept heat on the government today over its spending, saying that it needs
00:56to do more to curtail the amount of money that it is spending.
01:00Particularly during a rather fiery question time today, the Treasurer was asked a series
01:05of questions about what it was doing to bring down the spending.
01:11Jim Chalmers continually referred to the war in the Middle East as the reason for the inflation.
01:16But he also dared the opposition to outline where it would make suggested cuts.
01:23The government saying there are some areas that it won't touch, areas like healthcare and education.
01:29Here's that moment in QT.
01:32They've got a $110 billion hole in their budget.
01:36They cannot fill it without going after Medicare again, without going after pensions and payments again,
01:43because that's how they roll Mr Speaker.
01:46If their argument is that bigger deficits mean higher inflation, then they have to explain why they've got $110 billion
01:54extra, bigger deficits in their proposals.
01:59Regardless though, these inflation figures do put pressure on the government to act.
02:04The Prime Minister has said that there will be more savings in the budget update, Mayifu, in December.
02:10And the government today, though, has also taken the opportunity to take some swipes at the coalition's economic management,
02:17pointing to their opposition to the European Free Trade Agreement,
02:22something that the Prime Minister says is a huge economic opportunity for Australia.
02:26The Prime Minister also took a swipe at the coalition for paying too much mind to this Marrickville golf club
02:32funding saga.
02:34The coalition saying that the Prime Minister had misled the House by saying that this funding was going towards fixing
02:40sewerage issues when it wasn't.
02:42The Prime Minister clapping back and saying that the coalition's focus on this issue shows that their priorities are out
02:50of touch.
