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

I always note that they object when presented with these facts, but they are very simple facts: there were 10 interest rate rises in a row under the previous government, adding up to 250 basis points, and since this government has been in office there have been six interest rate cuts in a row, 425 basis points.

What does that mean for a working family? If you are out there with a mortgage of $300,000, back at the end of 2007 an interest rate would have been paid of 8.55 per cent. Now we have in fact a standard variable mortgage rate of 5.78 per cent. That means that if you are on a standard mortgage of some $300,000 that represents a saving around $530 a month. Those opposite seemed to regard that as a laughing matter. Go to the small-business constituency and interest rates as they applied at the end of 2007. For small business, rates for loans were 9.6 per cent. They are currently running at 7.9 per cent.

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