Labor assistant treasurer Stephen Jones says Australians ought to anticipate a ‘rocky’ 12 months as inflation bites.
The federal government will be unable to “write cheques” to assist resolve Australians’ fast cost-of-living woes regardless of hovering inflation.
Worth rises in each home and worldwide markets meant the nation ought to put together for a troublesome interval, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says.
“There are a lot of issues which are nice about the Australian financial system … however we’re going to undergo a really rocky 12 months, there’s little doubt about that,” he advised ABC TV on Saturday.
Inflation is predicted to peak at 7.75 per cent within the December quarter of the 12 months earlier than falling to five.5 per cent by mid-2023, in response to Treasury estimates revealed on Thursday.
Get Crikey FREE to your inbox each weekday morning with the Crikey Worm.
Official figures for the June quarter confirmed inflation rising at an annual charge of 6.1 per cent, the largest improve since 2001.
When requested if any cost-of-living reduction might be anticipated within the October funds, Mr Jones stated Labor couldn’t proceed to only “write cheques” because the earlier authorities had.
“Now we have inherited $1 billion value of debt and the curiosity on that’s now coming house to roost,” he stated.
“We at the moment are going to be spending more cash on paying down the earlier authorities’s debt than we do on many of our healthcare applications.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly hosed down any expectations {that a} momentary reduce to gas excise to alleviate excessive petrol costs could be prolonged previous September.
On Wednesday, he warned persevering with the tax reduction for an additional six months would value the funds about $3 billion.
Mr Jones stated Labor would concentrate on bettering expertise within the workforce and making certain the nation had a powerful power market to assist cope with the financial challenges.