Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

On a number of occasions today in question time we put to Senator Minchin, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Minister representing the Prime Minister, that famous promise that this coalition government—the Liberal Party and the National Party—made to the Australian people: they would keep interest rates at record lows. That was the promise; that was the advertisement. ‘We will keep interest rates at record lows.’ How hollow does that sound now as Australian families struggle with the fifth consecutive interest rate increase since that promise was made and the ninth interest rate increase under the Howard government? Keep interest rates at record lows. How does that promise sound today? What we see in response from the Howard government is just more of the same, more ducking and weaving, more blame shifting—let us blame anyone but ourselves; let us not take responsibility.

One of the things that the Australian people will be very clear about as they deal with the impact of this interest rate increase on their mortgage repayments and the increasing financial pressure of rising childcare costs, rising grocery costs, the rising cost of living and an increase in their mortgage repayments due to the ninth consecutive interest rate increase is that this Prime Minister cannot take credit fast enough if interest rates go down. Do not get between John Howard and a microphone if interest rates go down. He cannot take credit quickly enough. But, as soon as interest rates go up, what do you see? You see this government yet again ducking and weaving and trying to blame everyone but themselves because they do not want to take responsibility. The contrast could not be starker: the government want to take all the credit when interest rates are low and then, when interest rates go up, all of a sudden the government are missing in action and trying to blame everybody else.

We have had nine consecutive interest rate increases under this government and five since that famous promise of, ‘We’ll keep interest rates at record lows.’ What we now see from the government, and the Prime Minister confirmed this yesterday, is that suddenly that is no longer the line. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said:

What I promised, and what I repeat here today ... was that in Australia interest rates will always be lower under a coalition government than under a Labor government.

Suddenly’ it is no longer, ‘We’ll keep interest rates at record lows,’ because the Australian people know that that is simply not true after nine consecutive increases. All of a sudden it is a sneaky, probably poll driven, line where the government try to get out of the fact that interest rates have risen five times since the last election.

Let us talk about record interest rates. Let us talk about who really holds the record on interest rates. Let us be clear about who really is the record high interest rate holder over the last few decades. The highest interest rate in the last 30 years was 22 per cent. And who was that under? It was under the then Treasurer, John Howard. So much for the history lesson that we get from the Howard government and their claim that interest rates will always be at record lows. What we know is that when John Howard was Treasurer interest rates were 22 per cent. We know that he promised to keep interest rates at record lows and we know that since he made that promise we have had five consecutive increases. When they made that promise the Liberal Party were either lying or simply wrong.

Today in question time I asked Senator Minchin what his advice was to working families like those of Mrs Spooner, who appeared in the Daily Telegraph today talking about the impact of interest rate increases. What was his advice to her and families like hers who are going to be hit with an increase in their repayments on top of rising fuel, childcare and grocery costs? I might have misheard Senator Abetz’s interjection, but what I heard him to say was very simply, ‘Vote Liberal.’ That’s it—vote Liberal! This government is extraordinary. They say, ‘Vote Liberal,’ and ‘Working families will never be better off.’ That’s what Australian families will understand. They will understand you made a promise you have not kept and they will understand that you arrogantly stand there and say, ‘Working families have never been better off.’ It simply shows how out of touch this Prime Minister has become and how out of touch this government has become if it honestly thinks that working families who are struggling with interest rate increases, and with the blow-out in the percentage of families who are suffering  from housing stress, have never been better off. (Time expired)