Inflation ‘within the government’s control’: Ross Greenwood

Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood says Australia’s inflation of 5.4 per cent is “within the government’s control” and they have started to “panic” about infrastructure spending blowouts. The federal government cancelled 50 infrastructure projects worth $11.6 billion following a review into infrastructure spending released last week. The Department of Infrastructure review recommended 82 projects be scrapped from federal funding, 36 should be rescoped and 156 should proceed. “You can start to see the panic is coming inside the government as well,” Mr Greenwood told Sky News host Sharri Markson. “That infrastructure spending, in particular by state governments, not only have there been cost blowouts in most of the major projects around Australia, but also, on top of that, it is creating more inflation. “It’s actually taking up more jobs and the cost of materials has increased. “This is something that is economy-wide; this is something that is within the government’s control and the government quite clearly has got to be quite careful of its own spending.”