Anthony Macdonald

So, I mean, she said the government needs to think about whether or not there are ways that it can help the inflation problem.

By looking to constrain demand.

I mean, that's like, in other words, getting on board what monetary policy is also trying to do.

It needs to take money out of the system.

So it can do that by taxes.

It can do it by cutting spending.

And like you said, she pointed out that it's the state governments as much as the federal government.

I mean, I thought she handled these government questions pretty well.

I mean, they're tough questions for her, particularly ahead of a budget, ahead of what's likely to be a very political budget because it looks like the government's actually going to put itself out there and try and do a few things, which is good.

That's what it was elected for.

Obviously, everyone has a boss.

She gets installed by the treasurer.

He gets elected by the people.

So he's playing politics with that in mind.

We can sit here, and it's so easy for us to do it, just say, oh, the treasurer should do this, treasurer should do that.

Well, the government's sort of got a broader agenda, don't they?

And they've always got an eye on the next election, 2028, getting re-elected.

But Michelle Bullock, I thought she handled it as well as she could have.

But just speaking about the budget, you must have been thinking about it a fair bit this week.

You headed to Canberra for it early next week.