John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

All members of this House when the time comes will face the judgement of the Australian people about all manner of things, including trust. As always, I will both await and accept the judgement of my fellow Australians on those matters. Let me simply say again, respectfully, to all Australians and to members of this House that I did not guarantee that interest rates would never rise. I simply said, and I know it to be true, and most Australians know it to be true, that interest rates under a coalition government would always be lower than they would be under a Labor government. Let me repeat again, in case the Leader of the Opposition did not hear: the average loan repayment today on a monthly basis is $1,430 a month. If the average of the Labor years, the Hawke-Keating years applied, it would climb to $2,300 a month. If we were to reach the bitterly remembered heights of 17 per cent, which generations of Australians who did not pay 17 per cent nonetheless know about, it would be $3,100 a month. I am happy for the Australian people to make a judgement at any time on that comparison.

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