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

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Does the minister recall saying in question time yesterday:

... with an average wage rise of $850 a month in the last five years repayments on the average home loan have risen by $740 a month, some $110 less than the increase in average wages.

Is the minister seriously saying that working families should be grateful for the $110 they have left over after spending $740 a month more on home loan repayments? Haven’t working families spent much more than this extra $110 a month since 2002, paying for a 20 per cent increase in food prices, a 45 per cent increase in petrol prices and an 88 per cent increase in childcare costs? Isn’t this government so out of touch that it has no idea about the pain that higher mortgage repayment increases have on working families?