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October 30, 2025
PETER STEFANOVIC: So let's dive into this with the Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson. James, good to see you this morning. So in your view, who or what is to blame for this rise?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, last week the Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock in a speech called out Labor's reckless spending and lo and behold, a week later we have a shocking inflation number, and as you say economists are saying that the easing cycle of RBA rate cuts is over and we may even have increases to rates by the RBA in the coming months. That is a shocking result for the Australian people because if you're an average mortgage already on this government's watch, you're paying about $20,000 more a year on an average mortgage than you were when they came to office. And underlining that headline number of 3.2% increase is some truly shocking statistics, like a 23.6% increase in electricity prices over the last year. I mean, Australians are really hurting, and this government has contributed to that with out-of-control spending.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, yeah, you mentioned that, and a part of that is because of the state energy subsidies that have ended. The federal one is still being paid, but for not much longer. Should they be extended?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: It's a very interesting question, Pete, because the Treasurer himself has said that these things can't go on forever, that they'll have to come to an end, they cost billions of dollars. And it is not sustainable, of course, for the federal government in perpetuity to pay the energy bills of consumers and small businesses. But the government's got a real dilemma, because they're presiding over a disastrous energy policy, which is driving up electricity costs. And they don't want Australians to realise the full extent of their mismanagement of the energy system, so they're trying to subsidise those costs. But we've now got a budget which is back into deficit. We have 10 years of deficit forecast, as far as the eye can see, and $1.2 trillion of debt to be reached by the end of this term – a truly dismal set of books. And so the Treasurer faces a dilemma. I don't know which way the government will go, but the best answer, of course, would just be to fix the underlying problems in the energy system and make it more affordable for Australians so that it is not necessary to subsidise their bills.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah, sure, that's long-term, though, but just on those rebates, what do you think? Should they be extended for the people who are doing it tough?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I'm not going to unilaterally make a fiscal decision on behalf of the opposition on your program this morning, Pete, with all due respect. That's really a matter for the government. They won the election. They will be in power for at least the next two and a half years, and they've presided over a disastrous increase in electricity prices on their watch due to their policies. The bed that they've made, they now have to lie in. They either have to reveal the full extent of their mismanagement to the Australian people, or they have to keep hitting the budget.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Just going through the numbers, though, and as the Treasurer said yesterday, it depends on what measure you look at here, but underlying inflation is still within the target range. So is it all bad?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, “still within the target range” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, Pete. It's at the top of the target range. It is at 3%. The RBA wants it to be at 2.5%. And Michelle Bullock herself said, anything above 0.9% would be a material miss. Well, we're well above that in quarterly terms. And if these trends continue, then the annual rate of inflation will be closer to 4% than 3%. And we'll have a really disastrous situation on our books. Because don't forget, Pete, we also have increasing unemployment in this country. Unemployment is ticking up, and inflation is ticking up. Now, the last time that happened in a sustained way was in the 1970s. It created a phenomenon called stagflation, and that was utter economic misery for Australians. Now we're not there yet, and I hope we don't get there, but I'm not convinced that this government has a plan to turn that around.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, just moving on this morning, James, there's been something of a bro down overnight between Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese again. We can see the pictures here, they've dined together, they clinked their glasses, pleasantries were exchanged. How do you feel about all of this?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, we wish the Prime Minister all the best in the management of this most important relationship. This is a team Australia issue. We want him to do well because his success with the United States should be Australia's success, and we hope this continues. So all strength to his arm. I hope he comes home with some tangible goods.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, and just a final one here, and it involves the Senate. The Albanese government has threatened to remove opposition MPs from senior committee positions. It's retaliation for the Coalition wanting, what, five more questions in question time, what's your response to that?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, the Centre for Public Integrity has found that this government is the least transparent government in decades, and it's not complying with orders of the Senate to provide documents. So the Coalition, along with the entire Senate crossbench, including David Pocock and the Greens and others, voted to increase scrutiny of the government's performance with extra questions in question time. And the government's response has been utterly extraordinary, completely petty and much more consistent with the behaviour of an authoritarian government than a democratic one. In return for having to answer extra questions in the parliament, they're proposing to strip the opposition of deputy chair positions in the House of Representatives. That is an utterly petulant response from the government and it reflects very badly on them. This is not a transparent government and they're now being exposed.
PETER STEFANOVIC: All right, we'll leave it there, James Paterson. Thanks for your time, as always. We'll chat to you again next week.
ENDS