Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Listening to the contributions this afternoon from the coalition senators confirms in my mind and, of course, with my colleagues that there must be two Australias, because the Australia I know from living in the outer suburbs of Sydney is not the same as the one that Senator Bernardi and Senator Boyce are referring to. The overriding view coming from the coalition that people have never had it so good is pretty much a disgrace. The front page of today’s Daily Telegraph in Sydney says:

The Lindley family of Kellyville have tightened their grocery bill, the Jacksons of Glenmore Park now walk to the shop to save on petrol.

That is the result of these latest interest rate rises. Remember that during the election campaign in 2004 the Prime Minister said that he would keep interest rates at record lows. Since 2004, we have had five interest rate hikes. Since 2002, we have had nine. The latest interest rate hike means that if you have a debt of $300,000 you are going to pay an extra $12.50 per week. If it is $400,000 it will be $16.66 per week, and if it is $500,000 it will be $20.83 per week.

Senator Boyce said that this debt is all in the high end, but, as I said, my Australia is struggling. In Penrith, in the seat of Lindsay, mortgage defaults have increased by 25 per cent over the year. I understand that mortgage default insurance claims have increased by four times. We have a situation in those outer suburbs of Sydney, electorates all held by the coalition, where people are just walking away from their homes. And they are getting hit twice. The mortgage stress is currently there—the Australian Bureau of Statistics says that mortgage stress is measured by people having to contribute 30 per cent of their income to service their debt—but people are walking away from their homes in places like Penrith and south-west Sydney because to service that debt they are having to use not just 30 per cent of their income; it is now up to 37 per cent. With this latest rise I would not mind betting that it will go up to 40 per cent, 41 per cent or 42 per cent. People cannot live with that amount of income going to service that debt.

The other frightening thing that is occurring in western and south-western Sydney is that house prices are declining. People have borrowed $300,000, $350,000 or $400,000 to get a house in the west or south-west of Sydney, but that house is no longer worth what they borrowed for it. People who are in mortgage stress now are walking away from a house that they may have bought for $350,000, which is now worth probably $290,000, and for which they are still servicing a $350,000 debt. As I said, the people in western and south-western Sydney, in particular, are being doubly hit because of the current interest rate rises and what appears to be the callous and heartless approach of the government in failing to alleviate the difficulties people have as a result of this interest rate hike. As I said, there seem to be two Australias. The one I represent, where I live, is struggling. People like the family in Glenmore Park are walking to the shops. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.