Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Millions of renters, mortgage holders, young people and families across the country are really suffering and struggling to make ends meet in the wake of relentless Reserve Bank rate hikes. Since the Labor government came into power in 2022, rents have gone up by 31 per cent and the average mortgage payment has increased by a staggering $1,667 a month. Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock has publicly conceded that rate hikes are pushing people to the edge while she blithely continues to hike rates. To rub more salt in the wound, Bullock also said that people are now facing the brutal reality of having to sell their homes to survive. Who suffers most from this hiking of interest rates? Those least responsible for inflation. Yet Bullock has offered no relief or hope to the millions of Australians doing it tough, stating that she doesn't expect the RBA to cut rates in the near term.

According to the Treasurer, the Reserve Bank has smashed the economy. So why is he then seeking to remove the democratic oversight over the RBA? Another capitulation by Labor to the power of capital, the big banks and the corporations. Clearly, they are the ones who have the ear of this government—not you, everyday Australians. Labor's so-called reforms to the Reserve Bank of Australia are a lost opportunity for genuine change.

The RBA is described as independent, but we know that the decisions that it makes are political. These are decisions that affect every Australian. When the RBA makes a decision, someone loses. Right now, that is the 40 per cent of renters who are struggling to pay rent; the 1.6 million households in mortgage stress because of interest rate hikes; and the 85,000 Australian households who could be at risk of losing their homes. And the government wants to give Bullock and the RBA even more power? They want to remove section 11 of the RBA act, which gives the Treasurer the ability to overturn the RBA's decisions, leaving Australians at the mercy of unelected bureaucrats with zero accountability. It's appalling and dangerous.

Here's what section 11 of the RBA act actually does: it gives the Treasurer the power to intervene to override the Reserve Bank when necessary. The Treasurer could use that power right now to reduce interest rates. It's truly baffling. The government tells Australians that it's working on cost-of-living relief, but it has a massive lever it could pull to offer relief to thousands of Australians right now, at this very minute, and it's not only not using it but also trying to remove that power from this Treasurer and future treasurers. No wonder ordinary Australians are feeling abandoned, even targeted, by this government.

Don't let them treat you like idiots, Australians. It doesn't take a genius to realise that the Treasurer wants to rid himself of the power to overrule an RBA decision because he doesn't want to be blamed for massive increases in mortgage payments and rents. These are huge cost-of-living pressures right now for most Australians. Rather than backing everyday Australians, the Treasurer is once again choosing to wash his hands and let the banks and the corporations continue making massive profits off people's pain.

The banks aren't here for you; that's clear. Recently, we heard Matt Comyn, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, boasting about their half-yearly profit of $5 billion. That's not even a full year, and they've made $5 billion in profit. Then he calls the Greens proposal to tax such excessive profits 'insidious populism'—those are Matt Comyn's words. So of course he likes the system just the way it is.

Labor and the LNP are colluding when it comes to protecting the interests of the banks. Over the last decades, the big banks have donated $5 million to Labor and $6 million to the LNP. What do the banks get in return for this generosity? They get enormous profits—profits off the backs of hard-working Australians who are drowning in debt. There's no clearer example of how power really works in this country.

If you're facing the prospect of having to sell your home—thanks for the suggestion, Governor Bullock—or you don't think you'll be able to pay your rent at the end of the fortnight, I just want you to know that the Labor government has the power to bring down interest rates right now and it's choosing not to. The Labor government should retain and use its existing power to overrule the RBA and bring down interest rates. This bill, in its current form, again illustrates Labor's failure to stand up to the banks and the corporations—indeed, its comprehensive capture by them.

Instead of letting the RBA turbocharge the cost-of-living crisis, Labor should be stopping inflation and corporate profiteering—by supporting the Greens super profits tax, to tax corporations that are price-gouging and driving up the cost of essentials, by freezing rents, by putting dental cover into Medicare and by making child care free. These initiatives, proposed by the Greens, would actually bring down inflation and help people, as opposed to what the RBA, with the government's tacit support, is doing—pushing renters, young people and mortgage holders, who aren't causing inflation, to the brink.

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