Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Reserve Bank Governor’s recent comments that the Howard government’s claims on interest rates at the last election were ‘incorrect and not plausible’?

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

Let me answer that question this way: what we said in the last election campaign was both believable and plausible. What we said was that interest rates under a coalition government would always be lower than under a Labor government. If you look at the record, you will see that they undoubtedly would be. In 13 years of Labor government—and I do thank the Leader of the Opposition for this question—housing interest rates averaged 12.75 per cent. In 10½ years of coalition government, they have averaged 7.25 per cent. They peaked at 17 per cent for housing under the former Labor government, they went to 21 per cent for small business and they went to 23 per cent for bill rates for farmers. It is plausible, credible and entirely accurate to say that interest rates under a coalition government will always be lower than under a Labor government.