Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister’s refusal to acknowledge that he and his party made a promise to the Australian people at the last election to keep interest rates at record lows. Why is the Prime Minister’s promise to keep interest rates at record lows still on the Liberal Party’s website today?

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

The promise I made at the last election—and I repeat it today—is that interest rates will always be lower under a coalition government than under a Labor government. That is supported by the experience of the last few years—indeed, I suspect of the last 25 to 30 years. Even after the latest increase—which, if flowed through by the banks, will take the housing loan rate to 8.3 per cent—interest rates for housing will still be a full 4½ per cent lower than the average of housing interest rates under the former Labor government. Moreover, the policies of the opposition which diverge from those of the government in relation to economic policy—namely, in the area of industrial relations—if implemented, will exert upward pressure on interest rates. The promise I made has been validated by the experience of the last 2½ years and is validated by a comparison of the policies of the government and the opposition.