Jim Chalmers brushes off Rita Saffioti’s Reserve Bank jab after WA Budget cash handouts
The WA Treasurer’s clapback at the Reserve Bank’s warning over government spending pushing up inflation was ‘Rita being Rita’, Jim Chalmers has said as he insists he’s not letting State budgets distract him.
The WA Treasurer’s clapback at the Reserve Bank’s warning over government spending pushing up inflation was “Rita being Rita”, Jim Chalmers has said as he insists he’s not letting State budgets distract him from his task.
Rita Saffioti handed down a budget on Thursday with a $3.5 billion surplus and cash handouts, and laughed off suggestions it would upset the central bank governor.
“Well, I didn’t like their interest rate increase,” Ms Saffioti said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.That came just two days after Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said all governments needed to think about how they could help the inflation problem by constraining demand.
“It’s not just the federal government. It’s the state governments as well,” the central banker said.
Dr Chalmers said on Friday morning he was taking the inflation problem seriously, as he unveiled $64 billion worth of cuts and “reprioritisations” that will be in his budget next week.
“On Rita being Rita, obviously our focus is on our budget, not state budgets,” he said when asked about her potshot at the RBA.
“Our budget is a very, very responsible budget. We take this inflation challenge very seriously because we know that people are under pressure.
“Different governments and different jurisdictions will go about that task in different ways, but overwhelmingly, we’re focused on our budget on Tuesday night, not the WA budget yesterday.”
