Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition does not lack any front. You have to have more front than David Jones to come in and move an MPI like this one—an MPI that is proffered up about undermining confidence and putting jobs at risk. The author of this MPI, the member for Wentworth, knows a lot about undermining confidence and putting jobs at risk—more particularly, putting one job at risk; that is, the Leader of the Opposition. But the party that he belongs to is responsible for a lot more than that. They are quick to claim credit for the mining boom but not so quick to take responsibility for the impact of 10 interest rate rises in a row and what that has done to our economy. They were negligent in government and are now proving to be irresponsible in opposition.

I take this opportunity briefly to welcome the decision of the Reserve Bank this afternoon. It is good news for the people of my electorate in Western Sydney. As I have said in this place before, it is the mortgage stress capital of Australia. More people in my electorate lose their homes to repossession than anywhere else in the country—300 last year, now counting three a day. I have heard some heart-wrenching stories from the sheriffs who have to execute these orders—stories about having to repossess the home of grandparents who have gone guarantor for their children, or turning up at the door and finding out that the young mother, still in her pyjamas, had not found out from her husband that he was behind in the repayments.

I have also mentioned in this House before that I was committed to trying to do something practical about it. One of the things I did was hold a housing stress information night over the break. I got 250 people together from my electorate to give them some practical advice and tips about how to make sure they do not lose their homes. The key to that is making sure they act quickly, not waiting until it is too late to get some free practical advice from organisations like the Smith Family. We heard some other traumatic stories that night—some stories of great difficulty in the electorate. One that I will share with the House today concerns a grandmother who, with her husband, has now moved back into the family home. She has moved back into the home of her 80-year-old parents. That is how hard life has become for her. She has had to rent out the house and with that rent she can manage to keep paying the mortgage. So life is very, very tough. I think these information sessions are the sorts of things that members of parliament should do, and I am going to do some more because more is needed.

On the wall at the sheriff’s office in Bankstown there is a whiteboard with 30 names on it. They are the names of the 30 people who are going to have their homes repossessed in the next two weeks. Today’s news will not help any of the people who are on that whiteboard, but it will help those who are still fighting to keep their heads above water, and it will make a difference, even if it is a modest difference, because the decision of the Reserve Bank today means that, if you have a mortgage that is worth about $300,000, it will mean an extra $50 that is now in your purse or in your wallet. All that money counts. An extra 50 bucks in the wallet or 50 bucks in the purse will help many people in my electorate keep their heads above water. It is also worth noting that it is the first interest rate cut in a long time. It is the first interest rate cut in seven years. It is the first interest rate cut that 740,000 people have ever experienced. They are the people who have established a mortgage in the last seven years. They have never seen a rate cut. Unlike the opposition, those 740,000 people will welcome the decision of the Reserve Bank today.

We are not out of the woods yet. As the Prime Minister said in question time, there are still difficult times ahead. The people in my electorate know this better than most because they are under pressure more than most; 12 interest rate rises in a row in the last few years have taken their toll. The total consequence of that is an extra $400 a month in mortgage payments. Four hundred dollars that is not in your wallet or in your purse makes a real difference, so it is going to take a lot of work to turn that around.

As I have also said here and elsewhere, there is an obligation on the banks in this country to pass that rate cut on, and I was heartened to hear from the Treasurer in question time today that the major banks have done so. Commonwealth, NAB, ANZ and Westpac have all promised to pass this cut on—and so they should. I would like to see all the other banks and mortgage providers make that same commitment by the end of the day. They often say how committed they are to the community, how socially responsible they are. Here is an opportunity to turn words into real actions and make a difference to the people that are their customers, to prove not just that they are concerned about their shareholders but that they are concerned about the customers that make up their daily business.

Can I also say in contribution to this debate that I think it is about time that the opposition take a more responsible approach to this issue. They seem to be arguing that this cut is evidence that the economy is slowing.

See this speech in context