Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Working families, pensioners and carers are under real financial pressure, and therefore it is important to have a consistent and comprehensive strategy for dealing with the pressures that they are under. One of the pressures faced by working families is the cumulative impact of 10 interest rate rises in a row. If you do the numbers on an average mortgage of something like $246,000 in total and the impact of 10 interest rate rises in a row, you will see that the flow-through effect is that the Liberals, as a consequence of their high interest rate policy, have given those working families $400 per month in interest rate hikes. That is a simple fact. When those opposite ask why we have real pressures on the cost of living for working families, that is a big fact: $400 per month.

The other impact on many working families is how to deal with pressures like the increase in childcare costs that they face. That is why the government, consistent with its pre-election commitment, increased the childcare tax rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

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