Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition ruled it out very quickly, as did the shadow Treasurer. But we put in place a whole range of competition reforms, and they are delivering results. By the end of this year there will be one million households with mortgages that do not have mortgage exit fees—something that was opposed by those on the other side of the House, by their frontbench team. There are over 180,000 homeowners who have refinanced, more than $46 billion worth of home loans through 2011. That is something like 20 per cent. We have already seen the ME Bank, Credit Union of Australia and the Bank of Queensland out there offering competitive rates.

We on this side of the House are absolutely determined to see greater competition in the banking system so that people who are unhappy with their financial institution can walk down the road and get a better deal. And when it comes to interest rates, those opposite and everyone else in this House should well remember that when they promised to keep interest rates at record lows they went up 10 times in a row. The cash rate is at 4.25. When they left office it was 6.75. Today, if you have a $300,000 mortgage it costs you $3,000 a year less than it did under the Liberals.

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