Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to take note of answers, I note what an oxymoron ‘answers’ is. I think I have just misled the Senate and I apologise, but I will move on. I would like to quote a few paragraphs from one of the articles in the Australian today by Mr Steve Lewis entitled ‘Rates hike puts election tax cut off the agenda’. It clearly states:

With mortgage payments at a 10-year high, there is likely to be further pain for families, with the central bank signalling it may tighten monetary policy further.

It also goes on to quote Mr Simon Tennent, Executive Director of the Housing Industry Association. Mr Tennent alludes to the fact that ‘housing affordability had been pushed to its lowest level ever’—not in the last 10 years but ever. The article reads:

For the first time, home buyers are now required to spend 30 per cent of household income—the level at which borrowers are officially said to be in housing stress—to make the minimum repayments on the national average home loan.

“Based on what’s happened with house prices in the September quarter and this latest interest rate increase, the proportion of income will hit 30 per cent for the first time ever ...

That says a lot, doesn’t it? The Prime Minister can say, ‘Who do you trust?’ I look forward to seeing the ads popping up on the TV with the Pinocchio proboscis sticking out every time he opens his mouth on interest rates. Do not worry, he will not be the only one. He is followed by a gaggle of government senators who will be just as guilty.

While I am at it, I would like to refer to Senator Minchin, who told us yesterday:

While I acknowledge that those families with mortgages will pay more as a result of this rate rise, they will have the comfort of knowing that mortgage rates, even at 8.05 per cent, are considerably lower than they were when we came into office, when they were at 10.5 per cent.

Senator Minchin also said:

On the average mortgage, people are paying much less than they would be paying if mortgage rates had stayed at 10.5 per cent.

What an absolutely condescending statement. I do not think I have ever heard anything like it. How dare Senator Minchin treat the people of Australia with such contempt as to think that they are far better off now, with interest rate rises, housing affordability and what they are paying out of their pockets, than they were years ago under the Labor government!

Another interesting article comes from the West Australian newspaper, from my fine home state of Western Australia. It was written by Mr Shane Wright, and there is a wonderful table in it. One could never, ever accuse the West Australian newspaper of being a left-wing publication, I can assure you of that, but it has very good reporters. They have brought to the attention of all Western Australians and anyone else who—I was going to say ‘has been fortunate enough’, but there is nothing fortunate in this damn article—has seen the article that, back in 1996 when the Howard government came into power, the average mortgage of a home in WA was $233,000 and the official rate was 5.25 per cent. They have also listed what has happened every year since. When they get down to 2006 under the Howard government—and this is the interesting part—the average mortgage in Western Australia is now $314,000, the fixed rate is 6.25 per cent and the variable rate is eight per cent.

And we hear this condescending statement from the minister yesterday about how lucky Australians are and we should be thankful that interest rates are so much lower than what they were under Labor! The average mortgage in Western Australia alone is up by $90,000. I do not know what the rest of Australia would be thinking when they hear that, Senator Minchin, but I tell you what: I was absolutely disgusted. I am sure that intelligent people listening to your speech would have felt your statements were disgraceful.

I would like to also talk about the people in Western Australia. I will just choose a federal electorate—Hasluck, for example. The people of Hasluck have copped a double whammy: not only has Mr Howard broken his promise to them to keep interest rates at record lows but his government has ignored their pleas not to build a brickworks in their backyard—a brickworks that not only will pollute the environment that they and their children live in but, unfortunately, will likely decrease the value of their family homes. Once again, the Howard government is— (Time expired)