Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Bass for his question. The Reserve Bank today released its monthly credit series, showing that credit remained stable in the month of September. Total private sector credit—comprising housing, personal and business credit—increased one per cent and was 14.4 per cent higher over the year, unchanged from August. Household sector credit—comprising household and personal credit—rose one per cent in September and housing credit rose one per cent to be 14.2 per cent higher than at the same time last year, unchanged from the growth rate in August. Housing credit growth at 14.2 per cent is significantly lower than the growth that we saw in 2004 when housing credit growth was up around 21 per cent. So, although credit growth is quite strong, it is certainly not at the peaks that it was before the readjustment in the housing cycle back in 2004.

One of the things that is supporting decent credit growth in this country is employment. There are 1.9 million additional Australians who have work compared to when the Labor Party was last in office. It is undoubtedly the case that that has given people the confidence to take out credit, because they are confident of their employment prospects under a coalition government. Your chances of getting a job were significantly lower under the Labor Party, which put so many people out of work.

See this speech in context