Page 1248 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 9 April 2008
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business-friendly location in Australia. What is the reality of all that the Stanhope government have done for business in the ACT? It is simply that they have ignored it or they have taxed it. In the context of this motion, the contribution from the Chief Minister yesterday in the debate on the matter of public importance was most interesting, as were some of his answers to questions this afternoon. He has confirmed the limitations on his role in dealing with economic matters. He has retreated into that favourite spot for people when they do not know what they are talking about—repetition and personal denigration. It is important to respond to some of these matters now.
The Chief Minister spends an inordinate amount of time talking about and denigrating the achievements of the Howard government. The reality of it is that the economic record of the Howard government is second to none. They were left a mess to clean up by the Keating government, much in the same way as Kate Carnell had to clean up the mess left by the Labor colleagues of Rosemary Follett with that $344 million operating loan.
Government members interjecting—
MR SMYTH: I note that they do no like it, Mr Speaker, but that is the reality. Having paid off $96 billion worth of Labor debt leading to an annual saving of $8 billion in interest, that is $8 billion that is providing services and infrastructure federally. The Chief Minister has railed against that, and his only defence is interest rates. It is interesting to read the truth of the matter—the standard variable home loan rate has fallen from 10.5 per cent in March 1996 to around 8.3 per cent towards the end of 2007, some 2.2 per cent less, Mr Speaker.
This interest rate reduction from 10.5 to 8.3 per cent would save around $449 per month in interest charges on an average new mortgage of $245,000 on an interest-only loan. Over the course of the coalition government, the saving would have been much greater, remembering that for most of the 11½ years of the Howard government interest rates were much lower still. Of course, we had the Chief Minister partially quoting it and weaving in his fiction on the Howard government today when he read an article from the Canberra Times. He read two paragraphs and said, “Of course, they blame the Howard-Costello Liberal government.” The Howard-Costello Liberal government is not even mentioned in the article. Let us go on with interest rates. Small business—
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr and Mr Seselja! Resume your seat, Mr Smyth. Mr Barr and Mr Seselja, discontinue your conversation across the chamber. Mr Smyth to continue, please.
MR SMYTH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Small business has also benefited under the federal coalition government. Small business rates have averaged 8.9 per cent since 1996 compared to 14.25 per cent under Labor, not to mention the 22 per cent peak under Paul Keating. If you look at the average rates under Labor, you see that they were 12.75 per cent for home loans and 7.26 per cent under the coalition government.
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