Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Treasurer. Is the minister aware of the Prime Minister’s comments that the household savings ratio is a good indicator of ‘the money that people have got left over after they’ve put bread and food on the table’? Is the minister also aware that the household savings ratio deteriorated to negative 3.3 per cent in the June quarter? Doesn’t this mean that households have now been spending more than they earn for the last four years just to put food on the table? Given this unprecedented period of negative savings, how does the minister expect families to afford yet another increase in mortgage repayments—something that the Prime Minister has already given the green light to?