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

Firstly, it is a complete verballing of the Prime Minister, which should be retracted, to say that the Prime Minister said he was pleased about the interest rate rise. That is a ridiculous assertion to make. The Prime Minister made it clear in his press conference yesterday that he did not like seeing an interest rate rise. Of course we understand the position of Australian families who have to pay a higher mortgage interest rate. So that is a complete misrepresentation of the Prime Minister’s position. Secondly, on the question of the extent to which our cash rate is higher than those of western Europe or Japan, I have explained that those economies have had zero or very low growth rates for considerable periods of time and much higher unemployment than our country. They have had to use their monetary policies to try to stimulate their sclerotic economies. That is why, to the extent that there is any, the difference exists.