Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Community Services (Senator Scullion) to questions without notice asked by Senators Sherry and Hurley today relating to interest rates.

It is rare that I thank a minister because normally we get evasive, out-of-touch answers that indicate the government’s age and its contempt for the parliament. But I have to say that on this occasion Senator Scullion was remarkably frank in his acknowledgement when he said that interest rates today are higher under this government—meaning his government—than they have ever been. He went on and said again that interest rates today are higher under the Howard government than they have ever been. It was quite a remarkable admission from Minister Scullion in today’s question time. What we got from the Howard Liberal government at the 2004 election was a promise that they would keep interest rates at record lows. Today we have a remarkably frank admission from Senator Scullion that interest rates today are higher under this government—that is, the Howard government—than they ever have been.

This just goes to make the point that Labor has been referring to on many occasions since the last election. We have had five interest rate increases since the last election. We have had nine interest rate increases in a row. And, to really rub salt into the wound of many struggling Australians who are paying higher interest rates on not just home loans but also on credit cards in particular, interest rate increases by some providers after the last increase by the Reserve Bank have been above the quarter-point increase that occurred. They have been above that last quarter per cent increase. There are a number of complex reasons for that, but it does highlight the ineffective and, indeed, false promise made by the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, at the last election that the Howard Liberal government would keep interest rates at record lows.

The fact that Senator Scullion today admitted that interest rates today are higher under this government than they have ever been—today he could actually admit that—is not of great consolation to Australian families that are battling under these higher interest rates. The nine interest rates hikes in a row under this government have added some $457 a month to a $300,000 mortgage. This is what the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, meant apparently when he said that he would keep interest rates at record lows: you would get an increase of $457 a month on your mortgage. That is the outcome of the solemn promise made by Mr Howard at the last election that he, leading this government—an out-of-touch government, a stale government—would keep interest rates at record lows.

It was one of those tricky promises from Mr Howard that we are so used to. It was another of his tricky disposable promises—say anything and do anything to get you through an election campaign. I think there are some good signs that the Australian public are starting to see through some of the trickiness of the Prime Minister. I will be interested to see whether the current Treasurer, Mr Costello, can see through the trickiness of the cobbled together promise that was given last week.