David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Rent for a one-bedroom apartment now costs more than 75 per cent of the JobSeeker rate in every Australian capital city. As costs continue rising, the RBA continue increasing interest rates. As mortgage repayments go up, property owners increase rents to cover their expenses. The cycle continues, with renters and mortgage holders getting worse off with each rate rise.

But where is all the cash being pulled out of the economy actually going? It's going to the banks. It's going to the banks, who are reporting billions of dollars in record quarterly profits. The RBA say they have no other option because the cash rate is their only tool, and the government says they have no other option because the RBA is independent. The people I'm hearing from in our community want decision-makers to consider other tools for managing inflation. When the economy is overheated, why not require people to save more of their income by shifting it into their super? Doing so would reduce spending without robbing everyday Australians of their hard-earned money and without lining the pockets of the big banks. We did the inverse during the pandemic, allowing people to access their super to stimulate the economy.

I spoke last week with a Canberran named Robert, who put forward this idea. Robert recently stopped working, following a terminal cancer diagnosis. He became tearful as he told me how life savings, intended for his children, are being eaten up by interest rate rises. It's just not fair. We need to have a serious conversation in this place about how we tackle inflation without punishing people like Robert and the hundreds of thousands or millions of others across the country.