The price of Kevin – an extra $50 a month
1st December, 2009
Interest rates rose for a third month in a row today, adding to the pressure on households but also the political pressure on the Rudd Labor Government to get its reckless spending under control.Today’s interest rate rise is a sorry reflection on Labor’s incompetent boom, bust economic management.
“This is bad news for homebuyers, small business, big business and families. In case I’ve forgotten anyone, it is almost certainly bad news for them too,” said the Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss.
“This is the third month in a row where interest rates have risen, which is without precedent. Australia’s interest rates are now among the highest in the western world.
“The Australian dollar will remain high, which is dreadful for battling exporters, and struggling farmers in their tenth year of drought.
“What this shows is that the Government’s panicky reaction to the global financial downturn was overdone and much of Labor’s stimulus spending was ill-targeted and wasteful.”
The state of the economy left to Labor by the former Coalition government was enviable. Under Labor, we are facing a record $153 billion debt with monthly interest payments of $680 million (and that was before today’s decision).
“We’ve seen the Julia Gillard Memorial School Halls built whether schools need them or not, $900 cheques handed out to dead people and the pink batts fiasco.
“Excessive spending always comes at a price – and we are bearing the pain of more interest rates rises under Labor.
“Just like what it proposes with its disastrous Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the Rudd Government has to be the first to hike,” Mr Truss said.
