Underlying inflation moderated in November with the Trimmed Mean Measure falling to 3.2 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent.
Headline inflation has now been in the bottom half of the Reserve Bank's target band for three months in a row, for the first time since 2021.
These new numbers are an important reminder of the very substantial and sustained progress we have made in the fight against inflation.
Headline inflation is now around a third of the 6.1 per cent we inherited from the Liberals, almost a quarter of its peak in 2022, and it has almost halved over the last year.
Inflation was much higher and rising under the Liberals and it's much lower under Labor across every key measure.
Headline inflation and underlying inflation have come off significantly since the election but were higher and rising under our predecessors.
Even with this substantial progress we know people are still under pressure and that's why our cost of living help is so important.
Today's numbers show our policies are playing a helpful role in the inflation fight:
- Electricity prices fell 21.5 per cent in the year to November, but would have fallen 1.7 per cent without the energy rebates for every household we are rolling out with the states.
- Rents rose 6.6 per cent in the year, but would have increased 7.9 per cent without our additional boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
Our responsible budget management, delivering back‑to‑back surpluses in our first two years and almost halving the deficit we inherited in our third, has worked alongside monetary policy to return inflation to the target band for the first time since 2021.
We know the good progress in the national numbers doesn't always translate into how people are feeling and faring in the economy and that's why cost of living remains the Government's number one focus.
We're confident but not complacent about this progress we're making.
We know inflation doesn't moderate in a straight line and we saw that again overnight, with inflation ticking up in the Euro area, and in the United States and United Kingdom in the most recent data.
These monthly figures are also volatile and jump around because not every item in the basket is updated each month.
Australians would be worse off under Peter Dutton, who opposed the cost‑of‑living help which is rolling out right now and who would make things worse not better.
The biggest risk to the progress we have made together would be a Coalition government that would come would come after Medicare again, push wages down again, and push electricity prices up with the most expensive form of new nuclear energy.
We are fighting inflation, helping with the cost of living and building Australia's future while Peter Dutton would put more pressure on household budgets and take Australia backwards.
