It’s all gone to pot just two questions in …

Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien has been warned after putting a question to Treasurer Jim Chalmers then interjecting before he’d even started answering.

To which the Treasurer responded “Sit down, pal”.

For the record, here’s the question and answer.

Ted O’Brien:

Given the RBA’s decision to keep rates on hold, millions of Australian mortgage holders will start wondering if interest rates are as low as they will ever go under this government. The Treasurer spending spree is at the heart of the problem. Government spending is running four times faster than the economy. Given that repeatedly, the Treasurer refuses to take responsibility for this. Prime Minister, will you take responsibility?

The speaker gives the call to Treasurer, Jim Chalmers:

Thank you Mr Speaker and I’m pleased that the member for Fairfax has taken a brief break from undermining his own leader. To ask me a question about the budget and about yesterday’s decision by the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates on hold. Partly because it gives me a welcome opportunity to point out and egregious lie that was being pushed around the gallery this morning by media by the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Opposition said completely untruthfully, dishonestly, that the Reserve Bank yesterday called out the government’s spending when it came to the decision that they took independently at the board level. That never happened, Mr Speaker. In fact, government spending was not mentioned by the Reserve Bank Governor yesterday, it was not mentioned in the board statement. And the only mention, the only mention and the detailed forecast which were released which were downgraded their assumptions about government spending going forward. From time to time, reluctantly, it is on us to point out the egregious lies being told by those opposite about our economy. If they were honest, Mr Speaker, they would say that the Reserve Bank Governor drew no link whatsoever between the government budget position and the decision that they took yesterday, Mr Speaker. The governor has said on earlier occasions has made this point about the government ‘s budget. We have got relatively low debt compared to the other countries, relatively low debt to GDP ratio is, our deficits as well have had a couple of surpluses and the most recent deficit in fact as quite small as well.