Interest rate rise set to hit family budgets

7/11/06
Average annual mortgage repayments on a house purchased when Prime Minister John Howard pledged to keep interest rates at 'record lows' will hit $14,942 if rates rise again tomorrow.
That is an extra $1,389 a year or almost $27 a week more than when the election promise was made in 2004.
Treasurer Eric Ripper today warned another rate rise - the fourth in two years - would have a significant impact on family budgets.
"Yet another rise means Western Australian mums and dads will have almost $27 a week less to spend on food and clothing for their kids," Mr Ripper said.
Mr Ripper said the same families would be about $34 a week worse off if interest rates rose again in February, as some leading economists predicted.
"John Howard and Peter Costello have failed to honour their pledge to keep inflation under control and keep interest rates at 'record lows'," the Treasurer said.
"The cost of this failure is the extra hundreds and even thousands of dollars WA families are now paying on their home mortgages."
Mr Ripper said the State Government was committed to helping WA families.
Measures included:

• in six years, household fees and charges had been cut by $390 in real terms;

• electricity prices had been frozen for six years;

• families with children turning 16 or 17 in Years 11 or 12 were receiving an annual $200 learning allowance. Students in full-time training were provided with an annual $400 learning allowance;

• the LPG subsidy for WA motorists who converted family cars to gas or bought new gas vehicles had been doubled. The rebate was now $1,000 and would be valid for conversions over the next four years;

• compulsory Third Party insurance premiums had been slashed by 10 per cent, saving the average motorist about $25 per year on every car they registered;

• the family rebate on car registrations had been increased by 3.6 per cent to just under $55, to keep pace with inflation; and

• families were also saving from a full year of 50c Transperth fares for school-aged children.