Millions of Australian mortgage holders have been dealt another blow today, as the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the thirteenth time under Labor.
The average mortgage holder is now paying more than $23,000 a year in interest than when Labor was elected.
This comes on top of soaring grocery bills, higher power prices, rising insurance premiums and rents that keep climbing.
This rate rise is not an accident. It is the direct consequence of Labor’s addiction to spending, which has kept inflation higher for longer.
That assessment is backed by Australia’s leading economists.
As one leading economist has said: "The best thing that Australian governments can do to help bring down inflation would be to cut government spending back to more normal levels."
Another warned that "the fiscal guard rails have come off".
Australian mortgage holders are being punished because the Government won’t show the discipline that families themselves have been forced to show.
When the RBA raises rates, it pulls money out of the economy to slow inflation.
When the Government ramps up spending, it pushes money back in, forcing rates higher for longer.
Australia’s inflation is higher than any major advanced economy.
The Reserve Bank now expects inflation to remain above its target for at least another two and a half years.
Unfortunately, it also expects real wages will continue to fall, and that even slower economic growth and higher unemployment will result from rising interest rates.
When Labor spends, Australians pay.
