Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I thought I did say that. This is what the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia said:

So, yes the Board did discuss the case for increasing interest rates at this meeting. In the end it decided that its current strategy of staying the course and trying to bring inflation back down by bringing supply back to demand was the right way to go.

I repeat that:

So, yes the Board did discuss the case for increasing interest rates …

So—although all the economists said we needed a budget which would put downward pressure on inflation—at the first meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia following the budget, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia said the board had actually considered increasing interest rates, which would have the impact of increasing mortgage repayments for thousands and thousands—millions—of Australians. This happened after the budget. The next meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia is in August, so Australians are going to have to grapple with the current interest rate crisis until at least August. We know that at the meeting in June the Reserve Bank of Australia wasn't considering cutting interest rates; it was actually considering putting them up. That is deeply concerning for every Australian with a mortgage and for first-home buyers who are trying to enter the property market in extremely difficult circumstances.

John Rolfe from the Daily Telegraph said to the governor:

You mentioned that the case for a rate increase was discussed by the Board. Was a case for a cut considered and is the likelihood of an increase in rates increasing?

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia said:

No, the case for a cut was not considered.

But an increase was. The governor went on:

I can't tell them—

that's the Australian people—

when they can expect some relief—

in the form of interest rate cuts. 'I can't tell them,' said the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. So, to all those millions of Australians who, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, are trying to pay their mortgages and make the interest payments for their family homes, the Reserve Bank governor, honestly, is saying:

I can't tell them when they can expect some relief. What I can say to them is I am very conscious that the high interest rates are hurting particular sectors of the economy more than others. The interest rate is the only tool we have and it's a blunt instrument. I do understand it affects different people in different ways. It is our only tool to bring inflation down and, again, what I would say and I've said it a number of times before, is that interest rates are part of what's hurting them but inflation is really hurting them. Businesses are feeling it because all of their input costs are going up and if they can't pass it on that's obviously hurting them. Consumers are feeling it when they go to the supermarkets. So, again, I can't tell them when we will bring interest rates down, but I can say that my laser focus and the Board's laser focus is bringing inflation down and that will help them. That will really help them.

That's the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. It seems to me the governor is extremely well connected with the cost-of-living crisis which all Australians are going through.

I've read you substantial quotes from the transcript of the media conference given by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. In response to that media conference, the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers MP, member for Rankin, said:

I don't tell [RBA governor Michele Bullock] how to do her job, and the governor doesn't tell me how to do my job.

It doesn't give you much confidence, does it? It doesn't give you much confidence that the Labor government has what it takes to deal with the inflation problem. They've got their foot on the accelerator in terms of government spending—an extra $315 billion of government spending since this government came to power. At the same time, the Reserve Bank of Australia is doing its best to bring down inflation. But at their last meeting, the meeting immediately following the bringing down of the budget, they didn't consider a cut to interest rates but only an increase to interest rates. These are not the words of a politician but the words of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. That, from my perspective, provides objective evidence to every single Australian that the Labor government has the wrong fiscal policy for these current times.