Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:36): What Australians do have is a government that is working very hard to fight inflation. We have seen some moderation in the most recent inflation figures—obviously, much more is required, but we are committed to fighting inflation because we understand the effect that it has on families, on the cost of living and on how people are struggling as a consequence of higher inflation. We're focused on fighting inflation. We know the opposition are fighting anything but inflation. We know that a number of the measures that ensured— The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, resume your seat. Senator Hume? Senator Hume: On relevance, I mentioned interest rates, not inflation. The minister is yet to use the phrase 'interest rates'. The PRESIDENT: As you know, Senator Hume, I can't put words into the minister's mouth. Senator Hume interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, you are not in a debate with me. Please resume your seat. As I said, I am not in a position to put words into the minister's mouth. I'm happy to remind her of the question but I believe the minister is being relevant. Minister Wong. Senator WONG: I'm interested in the proposition that inflation is not relevant to interest rates. That seems to be the point of that point of order—that somehow a discussion of inflation is not relevant to interest rates. As the shadow minister knows, interest rates are set independently by the Reserve Bank. What governments can do is to ensure that we engage in the fight against inflation. Unfortunately, when we and the Australian community needed allies in that, instead they've had an opposition determined to oppose the measures that the government is seeking to put in place to fight inflation. I would remind the shadow minister that without our energy plan electricity prices would have risen 18.8 per cent instead of 8.4 per cent. So they're happy for electricity prices to go up nearly 19 per cent. That's the position of the opposition. Energy price relief that you voted against— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, a first supplementary question?