.
Australia’s cash rate has hit 4.6 per cent, its highest level in fifteen years, and families are being asked to tighten belts that already have no holes left.
On September 29, the Reserve Bank delivered its fourth rate rise this year. For mortgage holders, that means another squeeze. For businesses with loans, it means higher costs. And for the government, it means explaining why relief still feels so far away.
The Reserve Bank’s argument deserves a fair hearing. Inflation eats away at wages and savings, and hits people on low incomes particularly hard. Letting it become entrenched would carry its own enormous cost.
But here’s the uncomfortable part: raising interest rates spreads the pain unevenly.
A family with a large mortgage feels it immediately. Someone with substantial savings might actually earn more interest. The same decision can mean cancelling a holiday for one household and cancelling groceries for another.
Then there’s the political blame game.
Labor points to the Middle East conflict and higher oil prices. Those pressures are real. But Governor Michele Bullock also identified domestic demand running ahead of what the economy can supply.
That doesn’t prove every government dollar is wasteful. It does mean blaming everything on overseas events is an inadequate explanation.
My view is that Australians deserve a clearer plan from both sides.
The government should explain which spending helps expand supply, which spending adds pressure, and where it can make savings without undermining essential services.
And the opposition should identify actual cuts, with actual consequences. “Spend less” is easy to say when you don’t name who loses out.
The Reserve Bank also needs to judge the delayed effects of its earlier increases carefully. Too much tightening could deepen hardship before the full impact becomes visible.
Households cannot fix global oil supplies or Australia’s productivity problems.
They deserve more than another repayment increase and another round of finger-pointing.
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based author, journalist, teacher, business consultant and social justice campaigner. He is the General Manager of the Australian Book and Language Studio.
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