Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister seriously saying, 11 years after his pronouncement that it was without question that foreign debt does increase interest rates, that now, when foreign debt is treble what it was in 1995, it has no impact on interest rates? Does the minister seriously believe the Australian people can now accept that, because a small part of the $500 million is not government debt, it has no impact on interest rates? Does he ask the Australian people to seriously believe that proposition?