Jim Chalmers is blaming Australia’s accelerating inflation on Trump – but voters aren’t buying it

As next week’s all but certain rate rise looms, there is one thing we can all agree on: the end of war in the Middle East can’t come soon enough

Jim Chalmers is blaming the latest shocking inflation figures on the worsening Middle East conflict, and he has a point.

The trouble is, voters aren’t buying what the treasurer is selling.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the 9.4% jump in fuel costs in September was largely responsible for inflation accelerating from 4% to 4.3%.

Petrol and diesel prices were on average 24% higher than a year earlier, the data shows.