Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

What I will indicate is that I do not accept the assertion of a link between government debt and interest rates. I do not accept that assertion. We know that interest rates are at record lows. They are at a 50-year low, which is the lowest since March 1960. We know that the cash rate is three per cent and that official interest rates have been cut by 4.25 per cent since August 2008. The average standard variable mortgage rate is 5.78 per cent. Why are interest rates so low? The reason is that they are at emergency levels.