Interview with Matt Shirvington, Sunrise
17 October 2023
MATT SHIRVINGTON: Let's keep this chat and prepare for the threat of rising prices. Jane Hume is the chair of the Cost of Living Senate Inquiry. Good morning to you, Jane. Thanks for joining us again. Well, we're heading back into uncertain economic times. But unlike the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, does the government have a chance here, an opportunity to get ahead of the game?
JANE HUME: Well, we certainly know, Shirvo, that those high fuel prices are affecting family budgets every day. Just on the drive into Parliament House this morning, I saw fuel prices around $2.13 at the bowser, $2.35 for diesel, which is pretty extraordinary. And we've heard evidence at the Cost of Living Committee about how those high fuel prices are affecting inflation in lots of different ways. Obviously, it affects the cost of goods coming to market certainly, so you feel it at the grocery checkout, but it also affects family budgets in different ways. One elderly gentleman was telling me that he's curtailed his social life because he is now trying to ration his petrol purchases from going from one place to another. One of my colleagues in a regional seat was telling me that he's hearing from families that are pulling their kids out of Saturday's sport because of the cost of driving them from match to match on the weekends in different towns. That's when inflation and those high and increasing prices don't just affect your standard of living, they also affect your quality of life. That's why we want the government to do more about addressing the causes. The root causes of the cost of living crisis.
MATT SHIRVINGTON: Well, Jane, last year they halved the fuel excise, didn't they? From March through to October, $0.22 a litre it saved drivers. Could they do that again? What else can they do?
JANE HUME: Well, certainly that's an option on the cards for the government, but the circumstances are very different now. Back then the drivers of inflation were Covid driven, which we knew was coming to an end. And also that invasion of Russia into the Ukraine, which was affecting fuel prices. We knew that would be a temporary spike and we wanted to make sure that fuel excise and fuel prices came down temporarily just to stop that inflation setting in. But inflation has set in. Now we're seeing higher grocery prices, higher electricity prices, higher mortgages. All of that is feeding into the cost of living crisis that Australians are facing. And that's why the Government needs a plan to deal with the causes of the cost of living, not just the symptoms. Otherwise it's just like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole.
MATT SHIRVINGTON: Yeah, it's already tough. Let's hope it doesn't get tougher. Thanks Jane.