Dear Editor,
Brace yourself for the interest rate hike that stops a nation.
With that famous first Tuesday in November looming, all four of the big banks predict the RBA will again lift interest rates.
No doubt the Melbourne Cup will be a great race, but the champagne corks won’t be popping as loudly if the news is as bad as predicted.
You might be struggling to pay your rent, pay your mortgage, book in with a GP, buy your groceries, or fill up your car.
You might just want to revel in a day watching the races.
But, when interest rates rise, Victorians suffer on so many fronts.
Your mortgage is even tougher to pay off.
And then there is the issue of Labor’s debt. Rising rates also hit taxpayers hard, as we all grapple with paying it off.
Victorians have been paying more than $10.5 million a day to service interest payments on Labor’s record debt.
That $10.5 million could buy 52 new ambulances, hire 112 maternity nurses, build a breast cancer centre, or resurface more than 10 kilometres of road – every day.
With predictions Labor’s debt will double by 2028, the daily interest bill will only get worse.
If and when this happens, there will be less of your hard-earned taxes to invest in our broken health system, our crumbling roads, or other vital projects and services.
That level of debt crushes the government’s ability to invest in what really matters.
And Labor’s only solution is to tax you, your schools, your doctors, and your homes.
This tired Labor government has run out of ideas and money, so keep that helmet on as Labor flogs a dead horse through to the next election.
Peter Walsh MP Leader of The Nationals