Alan Ferguson (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Wong should take a drive out into the rural parts of Australia and she would see just how difficult things are in those areas.

Global inflationary pressures have increased in the last 12 months, and that has led to higher interest rates around the world. We have seen terrific volatility on world commodity prices and equity markets, and there are risks to global growth which are associated with the slowdown in housing, particularly in the United States. These challenges require a focused and disciplined approach to economic management, not sloganeering and billboards. And if Senator Sherry wants to come in here and say how devastating it is because we have had three rises in interest rates—still at historically low levels—he ought to remember what his party did to the Australia population with interest rates of 17½ per cent for housing and, as I said, up to 23 and 24 per cent for the ordinary borrower. (Time expired)