Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Kevin Hogan, says the decision by the Reserve Bank to increase the cash rate target to 4.10 per cent confirms what Australians already know: inflation remains too high, and families are paying the price:
• Mortgage holders will be hit again.
• Small businesses will be under even more strain.
• Household budgets will need to be tightened further.
The Government points to global uncertainty, including tensions in Iran. But even before this, comparable countries have seen inflation fall further and faster. The difference is reflected in the lower interest rates across comparable economies:
• Canada: 2.25 per cent
• United States: 3.75 per cent
• New Zealand: 2.25 per cent
• United Kingdom: 3.75 per cent
• South Korea: 2.50 per cent
• Germany: 2.15 per cent
• Italy: 2.15 per cent
With the Federal Budget less than two months away, Australians are falling behind, and the Government's response is to design new taxes to take more money out of Australians' pockets.
This decision means Australians will pay more for Labor's failure to contain inflation.
More on their mortgage repayments.
More at the supermarket checkout.
More at the petrol bowser.
Australians deserve better economic management than this.
That means getting government spending under control, restoring fiscal discipline, and improving productivity to bring inflation down and take pressure off interest rates.
