Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Does the minister understand that Australian families with a $300,000 mortgage are now $433 a month worse off due to the nine consecutive interest rate rises under the Howard government? What benefit is it to these families if they can buy 700 litres of milk when they are facing an 88 per cent increase in childcare costs, a 45 per cent increase in petrol prices and a 20 per cent increase in food prices? Minister, aren’t these working families justified in thinking that the Howard government has broken its election promise to them to keep interest rates at record lows?