David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

Not only have the opposition not entertained questions around savings measures; equally, they have sought to avoid questions around monetary policy and interest rates. It does not surprise me at all that they would avoid these questions. Having run many an election campaign saying that interest rates would always be lower under the Liberal Party—we all remember that, the 2004 campaign in particular—we now find ourselves with interest rates that are lower than they ever were under the Liberal Party and, all of a sudden, they want to tell us that low interest rates are not a good thing; they are a bad thing. I want them to tell that to the families out in the community with mortgages of $300,000 who are paying $5½ thousand a year less in interest repayments as a result of the cuts to interest rates. Those cuts have ensured that benefits have flowed to families right around our community. Those who once proclaimed themselves the party of low interest rates—they even champion them in that silly little pamphlet I was talking about earlier—come forward, now that the interest rates are cut, and talk about how terrible this is because the economy is tanking. Record-low interest rates are now a bad thing.

There are those of us who have memories long enough to know we have heard it all before, and we will continue to make long-term investments in the economy, because, if we want a stronger economy, a smarter nation and a fairer society, these are the sort of things we will need to do. (Time expired)

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