8th August 2007- Senate Question Time

The government seems to be continually claiming that the strength of the Australian economy means that we can sustain further interest rises. But yes, a proportion of the Australian population could easily deal with a ¼% rate rise but what about those that can’t. It seems that economy management is more important or at least regarded with more attention than the differing positions of Australian residents. Yes mortgage interest rates are still lower than under the last labour government…but when acknowledging that inflation is impacting on the price of groceries along with various other expenses incurred by families I begin to wonder when we are going to recognize that it all builds up. With mortgage interest rates going up to 8.3% which amounts to on average an extra $200 a month on mortgages I know for a fact that some Australians will not be able to cope. Not only does it affect mortgage payers but also private rentals. When will they recognize that Australians are already walking a tight line regarding weekly budgeting?

Another issue raised related to the Building and Construction Sectors. “Crucial” clean up of this sector will apparently be abolished by labour effectively rendering the 1.5% GDP increase irrelevant. The clean up has resulted in a 5.2% fall in the cost of construction and therefore cheaper homes and roads. This has also lessened the Consumer price index by 1% reducing the pressure on interest rates. Labour by abolishing the ABCC and other fundamental establishments in this sector could effectively be worsening our economic condition. I begin to wonder whether Labour will ever want to make decisions that are not necessarily publicly appealing but that can be proven to have significant positive repercussions for Australian residents.