Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that the Sydney Morning Herald has reported Debbie Bridgman’s response to his attempt yesterday to explain why he had broken his promise to keep interest rates at record lows? The report in the Sydney Morning Herald said:

Mrs Bridgman said yesterday she would not be changing her vote in response to the Prime Minister’s plea. Instead, she said, her trust in the Prime Minister had been ‘destroyed’

Would the Prime Minister like to have another go at explaining to Debbie Bridgman and families all round Australia why he has destroyed their trust?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All members of this House when the time comes will face the judgement of the Australian people about all manner of things, including trust. As always, I will both await and accept the judgement of my fellow Australians on those matters. Let me simply say again, respectfully, to all Australians and to members of this House that I did not guarantee that interest rates would never rise. I simply said, and I know it to be true, and most Australians know it to be true, that interest rates under a coalition government would always be lower than they would be under a Labor government. Let me repeat again, in case the Leader of the Opposition did not hear: the average loan repayment today on a monthly basis is $1,430 a month. If the average of the Labor years, the Hawke-Keating years applied, it would climb to $2,300 a month. If we were to reach the bitterly remembered heights of 17 per cent, which generations of Australians who did not pay 17 per cent nonetheless know about, it would be $3,100 a month. I am happy for the Australian people to make a judgement at any time on that comparison.