Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:01): I thank Senator Hume for her question on the economy. I would say to her and to the chamber that this government understands very deeply—and so does the Prime Minister—that Australians are doing it tough and that cost of living is the first issue that is raised with all of us by so many Australians and their families. That is why we are working so hard, in terms of both returning a budget surplus and the measures that we have put in place to deal with inflation and to do what we can to put downward pressure on inflation. It was pleasing to see the monthly CPI indicators showing inflation moderating to 4.9 per cent, down from 5.6 per cent in September. Obviously that's still too high, but it is welcome news. Certainly, monthly inflation is lower than what it was at the election last year, which was just over six per cent, I think, under those opposite. That figure is a significant moderation from last month's inflation numbers and much lower than the median market expectation. Senator Hume: That was one month's inflation! Senator WONG: And yes, I'll take the interjection. It is one month; it is. And we have a long way to go. But this is a government that has put in place, for example, an energy plan which ensured that, instead of energy prices rising nearly 19 per cent—as they would have done—because of the measures that we put in place, they rose by 8.4 per cent. I would remind those opposite when they come in here worrying about— The PRESIDENT: Minister Wong, please resume your seat. Senator Hume: On a point of order: I have allowed the minister to go now for a minute and 30 seconds. The question, though, was: are Australians suffering under a cost-of-living crisis under this government? The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Hume. There was a significant preamble to that question. The minister is being directly relevant. Senator WONG: I dealt with it first up, as I think the senator knows, because she does understand that inflation is directly relevant to the question she asked, and so too are energy prices. I would remind her that she and her colleagues voted against the energy price relief. You are the party of high energy prices, and you are the party, therefore, of higher inflation. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, a first supplementary?