Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Manager of Government Business in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (14:52): It did finish abruptly. I was waiting for a bit more on that too. Government senators interjecting— Senator GALLAGHER: No. It's no criticism. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator GALLAGHER: It was no criticism Government senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Minister please resume your seat. Order on my left! Senator GALLAGHER: Such sensitive souls! I didn't mean it as a criticism. It was a surprise, that's all. It was just a surprise, and I'll leave it at that. The shadow minister refers to comments made by the Treasurer in April 2022, when interest rates started going up under the former government because that was the quarter where inflation was at its highest—under the former government. I'm just reminding you, Senator Hume, that the largest quarterly increase in inflation was under your government. The Reserve Bank had to respond then and start lifting interest rates, which is what they have done. We on this side of the chamber accept that many thousands of Australians are doing it tough right now. We accept that, which is why our job has to be completely focused on the measures that we can take to make a meaningful difference in people's lives without adding to the inflation challenge in the economy. We accept that life is harder for people— The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, on a point of order? Senator Hume: On relevance, President: I asked about the cost of living rising further, interest rates being higher and real wages going backwards faster. The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, the minister is being relevant. Senator GALLAGHER: The shadow minister also asked me about wages, and I'm surprised because those opposite, who deliberately put wages down, fail to acknowledge all of the steps that we have taken to get wages moving in an inflationary environment—I accept that—where we do see CPI staying higher than we'd like for longer than we'd like, and that's impacting real wages. But we are determined to get real wages moving again, as you have seen from the aged-care decision, as you've seen from our industrial relations reforms— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, first supplementary?