No,

no, no, of course I care a lot about what's happening here, but I care about the aggregate.

And while there will definitely be some implications at a sector level, at a company level, from whichever party or group of parties gets in, I think the one thing that's very clear is that whoever it is, will have a big job which continues to be reducing that large deficit that we're running at the moment where we are spending more than we are bringing in via things like tax, for example.

This is something that very much is on the radar of ratings agencies, the global institutions that will give us our credit rating and that will determine our ability, or at least what price, we borrow money from the rest of the world, which is something that we continue to need to do.

So with that, it makes it a little easier to conclude that the prospect of the government being a meaningful contributor to economic growth to be honest for the foreseeable future it's it's pretty low they will be a smaller and smaller share of gdp as they fix this issue and get back to running a more balanced budget so yeah it's an easier thing when you put that macro lens on um there's basically not going to be a huge amount of help coming from that part of our economy.

What do you reckon?

Yeah, no, I mean, we can see that in the data, Tim, that that's not happening in a big way.

What it has done is obviously lifting that official cash rate and having those expectations of further hikes has meant that interest rates in the market have lifted up.

Who cares what's happening in our little...

No, no, no, of course I care a lot about what's happening here, but I care about the aggregate.

And while there will definitely be some implications at a sector level, at a company level, from whichever party or group of parties gets in, I think the one thing that's very clear is that whoever it is will have a big job which continues to be reducing that large deficit that we're running at the moment where we are spending more than we are bringing in via things like tax, for example.

You know, this is something that very much is in the It's on the radar of ratings agencies, you know, the global institutions that will give us our credit rating and that will determine our ability, or at least what price we borrow money from the rest of the world, which is something that we continue to need to do.

So, you know, with that, it makes it a little easier to conclude that The prospect of the government being a meaningful contributor to economic growth, to be honest, for the foreseeable future, it's pretty low.

They will be a smaller and smaller share of GDP as they fix this issue and get back to running a more balanced budget.

So yeah, it's an easier thing when you put that macro lens on.

What do you reckon?

[laughs]

Um, I, I think, look, they had to accept, um, somewhat awkwardly because the economy is not really ready for, for interest rates to lift up, uh, meaningfully, but they did have to accept some of this inflation risk that we're talking about that is coming from higher oil prices, petrol prices, and then being passed through, uh, by those companies that have to pay those, those energy prices, um, as part of, you know, moving things around the country, for example.

The, the, the real fear they have is that people and businesses will see the higher inflation that's coming from those channels and start to embed that in their expectations.

They start to think, instead of 2% inflation, what I'm seeing out the window or when I go down to the petrol pump is something much higher than that, and that, once it gets embedded in people's expectations, can be really tough to shift.

So look, this is them beginning, um, a, a journey to say, "Hey, let's start to move policy interest rates from a place that is still providing some support to the economy to a place that's closer to, to what we describe as neutral or, or average."

Who cares what's happening in our little, little-

No, no, no, of course, like no, I care a lot about what's happening here, but, but I care about the aggregate.

And, you know, while there will definitely be some implications, uh, at a sector level, at a company level from, you know, whichever party or group of parties gets in, I think the one thing that's very clear is that whoever it is will have a big job which continues to be reducing that, that large deficit that we're running at the moment, where we are spending more than we are bringing in, um, via things like tax, for example.