Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, the future of interest rates is up in the air this morning, the Greens demanding the government force an interest rate cut ahead of the RBA’s meeting today. Here to weigh in is Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in Canberra. Katy, good morning to you, nice to see you this morning. Look, you are running out of time with the Australian people. The longer we go, the more you slide in the polls.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Well, look, on the interest rate question, you know, we can see the Greens teaming up with Peter Dutton again on the Reserve Bank legislation. I mean, the Greens are out of control. What the Reserve Bank does tomorrow is really a matter for them. They’re independent, there’s good reasons for them to be independent and you know, we just need to keep providing that stable and strong economic leadership. You know, we get that people are doing it tough and you see some of that reflected I think in the research. But you know, as government, we’ve got to take the right decisions for the right time and you know, we’re trying to provide cost-of-living relief at the same time as we’re trying to get this inflation challenge under control. It’s moderating in welcome ways and we’ll get some CPI figures out on Wednesday as well, so that’ll give us a bit more info.

STEFANOVIC:I know publicly you won’t say anything, but – that continued slide in the polls must be worrying you.

GALLAGHER: Well, you know, people commentate on polls all the time. Our job is to make sure we’re doing the right thing by the Australian people and that’s what we’re trying to do, Karl. It is really challenging because of this inflation problem, but it’s moderating, and again, we’ll see some more data on Wednesday and hopefully we see that continuing to track down. Because that means you know, we’re seeing some of those costs come down as well. But we’ve just got – you know, governments have to manage for the economic circumstances that they have at the time and that’s what we’re doing. And that’s delivering surpluses, and we’re paying down debt faster, we’re getting the Budget into much better shape, and that’s really our job day-to-day and to continue to talk to people about what we’re doing.

STEFANOVIC: The problem, the challenge for you is that on housing, on rent, on interest rates – they’re the dominant cost pressures right now, and on those fronts, people believe you’ve failed them.

GALLAGHER: Well, these you know aren’t problems that happened overnight. And I think in our two years that we’ve been in government, we’ve got comprehensive plans on housing. Again, you saw Peter Dutton and the Greens get together last week to stop us making some sensible reforms there on housing. On interest rates, you know, that is a matter for the Reserve Bank. That’s the way we have our system structured. The Bank does monetary policy, we do fiscal policy and our fiscal policy is actually helping the inflation challenge. So, we’ve just got to continue to do the job we’re doing and to continue to look for ways to help people with some of those cost-of-living pressures.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. It’s a delicate dance for you, is it not? Bagging the Greens and then doing deals with them?

GALLAGHER: Well, the only one doing deals with the Greens, Karl, is Peter Dutton.

STEFANOVIC: Okay, so, you won’t do a deal with the Greens post the next election to form government?

GALLAGHER: Well, we’re campaigning for majority government, Karl, but –

STEFANOVIC: So you’re ruling out doing a deal with them?

GALLAGHER: Karl, what’s happening now is the Greens and the Liberal party are teaming up, and I think that’s a question for Peter Dutton. Why does he continue to do deals with the Greens to stop us doing things on housing and sensible reforms on the RBA?

STEFANOVIC: I know, but you’d still do a deal with them to form government if necessary.

GALLAGHER: Well, we’re campaigning for majority government, Karl. And you know, the other thing is we need people to concentrate on the Senate, because the Senate is where you know the Greens are exercising their political power and people need to understand that that’s also an area where they can – if they want stable and good government, have a look at what happens in the Senate.

STEFANOVIC: Alright, just finally, it’s most likely interest rates won’t go down tomorrow when the Reserve Bank makes their announcement. It’s going to be a tough few months for the Australian people and at the moment, they don’t have confidence in you to solve the crisis for them.

GALLAGHER: Well, I think the Australian people expect their government to work hard to make the decisions in the long-term interests of the country. And that’s what we’re doing. And our job is to keep communicating that and trying to communicate that, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. But we’re seeing inflation moderate in welcome ways and hope to see that again in the figures on Wednesday, but the Bank needs to make their own decisions.

STEFANOVIC: Challenging time. Good on you Katy, thank you so much, appreciate it.

GALLAGHER: Thanks for having me.