Good morning! Jumping in to share this piece from our chief business correspondent Ian Verrender. As usual, his Tuesday morning analysis is required reading:
Take a deep breath.
It’ll only take a few minutes from Michele Bullock’s ascension to the podium at this afternoon’s post rate decision press conference for the blame game to begin.
Who is responsible for the inflation outbreak?
She won’t answer, at least directly. And she certainly won’t deliver the answer required by a baying press pack.
For most of this year the opposition has cleverly sheeted responsibility home to the federal government with accusations of profligate spending.
It’s not just gaining traction, it’s become an article of fact.
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson is having a field day.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, it is said, is out of control, spending your hard-earned tax dollars like a drunken sailor, pushing up the price of almost everything and forcing the Reserve Bank to counter with rate hikes.
It’s simple and it’s neat, the kind of messaging that resonates with an electorate tired of being whacked around the ears, first by runaway prices and then by higher mortgage repayments.
There’s just one problem. It’s hugely misleading on a number of fronts.
Will leave you on the cliffhanger. You can read more here: