House debates Questions without Notice

Interest Rates

Wednesday, 20 June 2007 House of Representatives

Lindsay Tanner

Lindsay Tanner Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance

2:18 pm

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. How can the Prime Minister claim that working families in Australia have never been better off when Reserve Bank figures show that a record 11.7 per cent of families’ disposable income now goes on interest payments—70 per cent higher than the equivalent figure five years ago?

John Howard

John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister

I would have thought that, as a result of changed economic circumstances, including the fact that people, partly due to low interest rates, are borrowing more and buying more expensive houses, there would be some variation in the figure.