Matt Canavan calls for Jim Chalmers’ resignation amid interest rate fears
Matt Canavan has launched a scathing attack on Treasurer Jim Chalmers, as mortgage holders brace for the first interest rate hike in more than two years.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with a Nationals senator demanding he “resign in disgrace”, as mortgage holders brace for the first interest rate rise in more than two years.
Last week, the headline annual inflation rate was 3.8 per cent, up by 0.4 per cent, in the 12 months until December, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Off the back of the increase in annualised inflation, Australians are now bracing for a potential interest rate hike when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holds its first meeting of the year on Tuesday.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Economists have flagged concerns the Albanese government’s public spending has directly contributed to inflationary pressures – which resulted in the higher-than-expected inflation data released last week – but Mr Chalmers has repeatedly rejected this claim.
On Tuesday, he described this type of commentary as being “motivated by politics” rather than “founded in facts”, before adding economists rarely shared a “unanimous view” on fiscal policy.
“I do believe that some of this, some of the commentary, is motivated in some of the newspapers by politics rather than economics,” he said.
“But I listen respectfully to a whole range, the whole gamut, the whole spectrum of economic views, and I try and read as much of the economic commentary that I can.”
Aside from experts, Mr Chalmers has also been subject to criticism from politicians, including Nationals senator Matt Canavan who called for the federal treasurer’s resignation ahead of the RBA’s announcement.
Referencing the Albanese Government’s battery subsidy scheme – which is plagued by claims its $2.3bn budget has been spent in six months – Senator Canavan asked on Tuesday: “How has (Mr Chalmers) possibly allowed a situation to emerge where things like a battery scheme can blow out more than $10bn in six months?”
“They costed a billion dollars. It’s now approaching $12bn in cost in just six months,” he told Sky News.
“How can Jim get his maths so wrong and still hold the position of treasurer?
“I mean, he should resign in disgrace because we’ve never seen anything like this.”
In response, Mr Chalmers declared he could not “care less” about Mr Canavan’s opinion.
“I listen to a lot of different voices, but (Mr Canavan’s) not a sort of a respected contributor to these sorts of things,” he told Sky News.
He then referenced the previous Coalition government’s JobKeeper scheme, which blew out by $60bn after miscalculations were compounded by pandemic fears.
“Our predecessors came up with a $60bn error in one policy … I don’t remember Matt Canavan saying (former treasurer) Josh Frydenberg should take the step that he’s recommending (to resign),” Mr Chalmers said.
“So I think we all know what the Nationals are doing. They’re taking a five-minute break from bashing the hell out of each other politically … they desperately want some bad economic news because they want Australians to be under pressure because they think that helps them politically.”
Labor to blame for affordability crisis: Ley
Later, Sussan Ley added to the pile-on, claiming Labor was to blame for the cost of living crisis and declaring it had “failed on the economy”, referencing criticism of the Government’s public spending.
Fronting media on Tuesday, Ms Ley said: “ … we heard from the Prime Minister that the interest rate rises of the past were all in the past, and that we were coming to clearer times, better times and times that would back in Australians, but that is not the case.”
“Unfortunately, right now, Australians are struggling even more with the cost of living crisis,” she said.
“This is Labor’s cost of living crisis. When Labor spends, prices rise and Australians pay.”
Despite ongoing speculation on the future of the split Coalition and intense questions swirling around her leadership, Ms Ley was adamant voters could trust the Liberal Party to hold Labor to account on the economy.
“I will continue to deliver a very strong message to voters, and all of my team is doing exactly that, because voters have a clear contrast,” she said.
“They have an Albanese Labor government that promised them that effectively, interest rates would start to stabilise and come down.
“But in fact, the opposite appears to be the case. They have an Albanese Labor government that has no understanding of how hard (voters) are doing it.”
Originally published as Matt Canavan calls for Jim Chalmers’ resignation amid interest rate fears
