EDITORIAL: Wanted: A leader who can tell it straight and fix it

Anyone else feel like they are living in a parallel political and economic universe?

Because this one is not making any sense right now.

We are locked into an endless cycle of statistics which show things are off track, remedies which are not working and political spin and bluster to cover up failure.

The cycle spun around another time on Wednesday amid the cluster of claims about what is driving the inflation which is pushing up the cost of everything and the resulting Reserve Bank of Australia decision to drive up the cash rate again — and through that, interest rates.

On Tuesday the RBA hit home loan borrowers again by taking the cash rate to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent.

It was the fourth rate rise this year — and means that about a third of households, that is, those with mortgages, are taking the RBA hit for all of us.

On Wednesday the latest consumer price index figures came out, and given their central role in the setting of rates it is a mystery why the RBA pulled the trigger before the numbers were revealed.

But that is another matter.

What they showed was inflation in August climbed sharply from 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent.

Overall annual headline inflation has now been above the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target for the 13th straight month, increasing the chance of a November 3 rate hike.

There are competing narratives about why and who is to blame.

On Tuesday, RBA governor Michele Bullock pointed the finger primarily at a local cause — “domestic capacity pressures”.

The impact of the Middle East conflict was “in addition to this”. And in another back-hander to the Government she highlighted how productivity — held as a key to improving economic capacity — “is doing nothing”.

But Treasurer Jim Chalmers is having none of it, on Tuesday making pointed and multiple references to the Iran war’s impact on oil prices driving inflation.

On Wednesday, Anthony Albanese denied the Treasurer and RBA governor were at odds over the cause of the inflation curse.

The Prime Minister jumped on to the fence, and stretching credulity proclaimed “I agree with both of them”.

As the politics plays out as usual, there is an important sector of the population left out.

The rest of us.

We are being sold short.

We don’t need more commentary.

What we need is solutions. In times of crisis people look to their leaders to lead them to safety.

We need a leader to stand in front of the country and reassure us through words and actions that ‘yes, we have challenges, but this is what we are doing to get on top of them”.

We need Mr Albanese and Dr Chalmers to lead us through this economic storm.

But they are suffering a severe credibility gap due to their egregious broken promises.

Their stifling, inflexible pro-union workplace laws and anti-innovation tax slugs continue to work against the ability of businesses to drag us out of this hole.

The pair have zero inclination or ability to provide the answers to this mess.

And that’s why people are looking towards Pauline Hanson.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore