Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On a day when interest rates have hit 4.35 per cent, and after 12 interest rate rises under this government, Australians are going to be doing it very hard if they have a mortgage. At least a third of the Australian public are going to be under great pressure. There are definitely going to be Australians that are going to look at this and say, 'That won't affect me directly,' but at least a third of the populace have got a mortgage. By representing a state like New South Wales with a large city like Sydney within it, I know that there are many people across Sydney that have very large mortgages, and they will be looking at this result today, of the interest rates going up, and thinking: 'How am I going to make this all work? How am I going to make it stack up for my own personal circumstances?' The consequence here is that people will in some ways have to economise. In other ways, they will have to have a conversation with their bank. Some people will not be able to continue, and they will lose their homes. And that is the great tragedy of this outcome today.

Being in the position of having 12 rate rises in a row is a direct result, a direct consequence, of the government's fiscal policy. We had Senate estimates last week, and I asked the Governor of the Reserve Bank whether the government was running a contractionary fiscal policy. The governor told me that fiscal policy was neutral. So it's not contractionary. So here you are with the Reserve Bank of Australia raising interest rates 12 times under the Labor government, and that same governor, Ms Bullock, is telling the government, 'Cut spending. Help us.' We want the government to run a contractionary fiscal policy because that is the best thing the government can do to reduce pressure on the Reserve Bank, which is now smashing mortgage holders. So, indirectly, the government is making it so much harder for mortgage holders across Australia to keep their homes and to do what they want to do with their own money. This is a hugely regrettable day.