Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Can I first say that the most important thing for home purchasers and home owners in this country is to maintain as low as possible the level of interest rates that pertain to mortgages, and we welcome the announcement by the Reserve Bank today that the interest rates will not be moving. That is another reflection of the great economic management which the government have brought to this country. We have stable and low interest rates, which gives consumers, renters and home owners confidence to enter the housing market with a much greater degree of certainty than that which prevailed when those opposite were running this country in the most appalling fashion, which saw interest rates go through the roof and low-income people deprived of any possibility of entering the housing market because of the interest rates inflicted on them by those opposite. So, because of the disgusting record they had in office, we are not going to put up with any lectures from the Labor Party about housing affordability.