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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that official Reserve Bank figures show that an average of seven per cent of household income was consumed by interest repayments under the life of the Hawke-Keating government? Is the Prime Minister further aware that the same figures show that an average of 7.9 per cent of household income is consumed by interest payments under the current life of the Howard government? Prime Minister, is it the case that a greater proportion of household income is consumed by interest repayments under your government than under the Hawke-Keating government?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am aware of a lot of Reserve Bank figures and I am also aware of figures that show that unemployment is at a 30-year low. I am also aware of the fact that, if the average borrower in Australia today were paying the average interest rates of the Hawke-Keating years, instead of paying $1,430 a month they would be paying at least $2,300 a month. If they were paying the notorious 17 per cent interest rate, they would be paying over $4,000 a month. I hope the member for Lilley continues to ask these questions.