Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Does the minister recall asking the then Labor Leader of the Government in the Senate on 23 June 1994: ‘Australia’s real interest rates are already amongst the highest in the world; is this not a reflection of this government’s mismanagement of the economy?’ Is the minister aware that at the time he asked that question Australia’s interest rates were 64 per cent of the OECD average? Isn’t it the case now that interest rates in Australia are 40 per cent above the OECD average? Aren’t our interest rates also the second highest among the 19 most developed countries in the world? Isn’t that, according to the minister’s own logic, a reflection of this government’s mismanagement of the economy?