What goes up: Miles leads the charge for Reserve Bank to cut interest rates next week
Most Australians – including three state premiers – would like to see interest rates fall when the central bank meets next week for its first monetary policy meeting of the year, a federal frontbencher says.
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock speaks during the the AusPayNet Summit at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)
Jason Clare was responding to a question on whether it was appropriate for the Labor premiers of Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia to “demand” a rate cut ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia announcing its decision on Tuesday.
“I think all Aussies want to see interest rates go down,” the education minister told Seven’s Sunrise program on Friday.
“It is a matter for RBA, though.
“To get them to cut interest rates we have to get inflation down – that’s happening.”
Earlier this week, hopes that rates will soon fall were fanned by Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing annual inflation eased to 4.1 per cent in the December quarter, down from 5.4 per cent in the September quarter.
On Thursday, Queensland Premier Steven Miles implored the central bank to cut rates.
“The Reserve Bank needs to start cutting interest rates now to take pressure off households,” he posted on social media.
“And there’s no rule the banks can’t cut their rates first. Many of them lifted their rates before the RBA,” he added. His comments were mirrored on Thursday by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and WA counterpart Roger Cook.
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told Nine’s Today show on Friday the premiers would be better off concentrating on the issues in their states like ambulance ramping and youth crime.
“The independence of the Reserve Bank is important so that there’s not political interference … they should, you know, concentrate on fixing up their own problems,” he said.
Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley said the premiers’ “demand” amounted to “economic idiocy” and was “quite crazy”.
However, Mr Dutton said the coalition would also like to see rates fall.
“So yes, I want to see them come down as quickly as possible, but the Reserve Bank is going to deal with that,” he said.
The RBA has been hiking interest rates since May 2022 in a bid to cool inflationary pressures in the economy.
So far, economists are broadly betting there will be no change on Tuesday to the cash interest rate, which currently sits at 4.35 per cent.
“If you can get inflation down, then we’ll see interest rates go down,” Mr Clare said.
“We know there are a lot of Aussies that are doing it tough and would like to see their interest rates go down.”
