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

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. Given the minister’s recent enthusiasm for quoting Labor ministers from the mid-1990s, does he recall saying on 29 August 1995, when foreign debt was $167 billion, that it was:

... just mind-boggling and beyond the comprehension ... of most Australians.

Didn’t the minister also say:

... foreign debt does increase interest rates. That is without question the case.

Can the minister now confirm that Australia’s foreign debt is $500 billion? Didn’t foreign debt grow by 14 per cent last year and 10 per cent the year before? Given the minister’s view that it is without question that foreign debt increases interest rates, can he confirm that the $500 billion of foreign debt under the Howard government has been a direct contributor to the eight—yes, eight—successive interest rate hikes experienced by Australian families?