Australia suffering under Labor, page-894

Realist, are you one? The world didn't start on 22/05/24

Yeah, yeah that's the past, living in the now blah blah.

Australia's inflation shock will have Morrison contemplating an interest rate rise – and his political future
By David Speers
Posted Thu 28 Apr 2022

Scott Morrison must now be contemplating how he will respond if dealt his own mid-campaign interest rate whack next week. Don't hold your breath for an apology.

Wednesday's inflation data was a shock to both the government and the Reserve Bank. They were expecting a figure with a 4 in front of it. The 5.1 per cent result was another blow to the Coalition campaign. It confirmed what everyone's been feeling at the check-out: prices haven't been rising like this for decades.

Aware the inflation news was unlikely to be good, the Prime Minister addressed the media two hours before the numbers were released to prepare the ground. He acknowledged the pressure facing Australian families, reminded them of the cost-of-living hand-outs announced in the budget and pleaded with them to look overseas where the problem is far worse.

Morrison even produced a chart to demonstrate how much higher inflation is in other countries compared to "what the markets are estimating at 4.5 per cent in Australia". It's unclear whether anyone got the sharpie out to correct his chart when the real numbers came out.

Global comparisons will be little comfort even at 5.1 per cent, Morrison is correct about inflation being worse elsewhere. And the Treasurer is correct to blame the war in Ukraine and COVID supply constraints.

But international comparisons are likely to provide little comfort to those struggling to pay more for meat and seafood (up 6.2 per cent), fruit and vegetables (up 6.8 per cent), dwellings (up 6.7 per cent) and fuel (up 35 per cent). Especially when wages are limping well behind (up only 2.3 per cent over the past year).