Labor should take responsibility for inflation says Deputy Opposition leader Julie Bishop, who believes the Federal Government has blamed the former Howard government long enough. June quarter results showed inflation rise to 4.5 percent.
Bishop criticised Labor’s first budget. “They introduced $19 billion of new taxes and revenues, and that, inevitably, leads to an increased inflation and we’ve seen just that happen: it’s fed into the increased inflation figure. [Wayne Swan] must take responsibility for his Budget and the fact that his Budget has led to increased inflation.”
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the figure was a mix of the already high rate the government inherited from the Coalition and international trends such as rising fuel costs and the global credit crunch.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has indicated a new plan to combat rising rents in Australia’s capital cities. “We have a housing policy and strategy anchored at present in $2.2 billion worth of programs to do with first home savers, to do with rental affordability programs and thirdly, also to deal with how do you draw down the infrastructure costs for new housing developments.”
