Barnaby Joyce has attacked Labor’s spending on renewable energy, arguing it is contributing to Australia’s inflation problems, during a heated television debate with Labor MP Josh Burns.
The exchange came after Treasurer Jim Chalmers indicated there would be limited cost-of-living relief in the next federal budget as the government faces substantial loan repayments linked to borrowing costs.
Inflation remains high despite major cuts to disability and aged-care spending in the last federal budget. The federal interest rate has risen for the fourth time in a year to 4.6 per cent.
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Burns said inflation was “a really difficult problem … because it really hurts people in the lower and middle income the most”.
“We don’t want people to have the financial stress, we want people to feel like they’ve got a bit of breathing room and they can get through the week but we recognise that that’s not the case for too many people,” he said.
Mr Burns said Labor wanted to direct spending towards skills, housing and access to medicines, rather than interest payments.
Pressed on where the government could cut costs, he said the choices were difficult, asking whether it should stop making medicines available for $25 or reduce aged-care services.
Mr Joyce argued there was a more straightforward way to reduce spending, saying One Nation would dismantle climate-change measures and seek public and private investment in coal-fired power plants.
“Last year, the Labor Party, on top of what they’re already spending, spent an extra $60 billion and this has an inflationary effect,” Mr Joyce said.
He also proposed reducing the size of the public sector by declining to refill some roles when public servants retire.
Mr Burns rejected the idea of reversing renewable-energy policies, saying it would waste public money already committed to the projects.
“Take your tinfoil hat off for a second on your climate change conspiracies,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re producing more and the idea that we would go back and take away all of the science-based renewable energy projects is just mad.”
