Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Of course no-one likes higher mortgage interest rates. Some 35 per cent of Australian households have owner-occupier mortgages—and I declare an interest: my wife and I have a rather large mortgage and we will be paying a higher interest rate as a result. We understand the difficulty that Australian families with owner-occupier mortgages will experience if, as is the case today, interest rates go to 8.05 per cent. But Australians, as I pointed out in my answer to the question from Senator Fifield, have experienced growth in real disposable incomes of some 25 per cent under our government; real wages have gone up 16.4 per cent under our government. In the whole 13 years of the Labor government, real wages went up 0.2 per cent—that is not per annum; that is over 13 years—compared to 16.4 per cent. I think Australians understand who is more likely to deliver higher real wages. (Time expired)