Community & Business
14 March, 2023
Vocal local with Shane Knuth
This week Member for Hill Shane Knuth gives his views on the actions of the Reserve Bank to put up interest rates again last week, and how big corporations are benefiting.
The latest Reserve Bank of Australia decision to raise interest rates again last week is a kick in the guts for millions of Australians.
The latest interest rate rise will hurt those average Australians who are already struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
I find the lack of apathy and the "shrug of the shoulder" approach from our Reserve Bank extraordinary.
Aussies are already struggling with high fuel prices, electricity costs and an increase to the general cost of living expenses, yet the Reserve Bank’s so-called brilliant solution to help people, is to hit us with 10 consecutive interest rate hikes.
The claim that the Reserve Bank wants to control inflation and stop a recession means nothing if millions of Aussies lose their homes and are out on the street in the process.
New research from the Centre for Future Work also shows that corporate profiteering - driving up costs to maximise profits - has played a major role in Australia's current inflation crisis.
According to the research the Reserve Bank of Australia's 10th consecutive interest rate increases are based on an incorrect premise.
While the banks and big business are enjoying record profits through increased cost of living prices, ordinary Aussies are being told that it is their excessive spending that is causing inflation.
However, every person I speak to, cannot afford luxuries and are flat out buying the basic essentials to survive, so excessive spending is well out of reach for the majority of Australians.
I see so many families finding it hard to make ends meet, yet the RBA's only goal seems to be to blame them and hit them even harder.
Meanwhile, Australia's big four banks, despite record earnings, (with the NAB recently announcing an 18.7 per cent rise to $2.15 billion in cash earnings for the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022) will again use the rate rise as an excuse to pass on the rise to average homeowners and add to their already significant profits.
It's an obscene merry-go-round. The RBA is simply feeding the big banks and big business with an excuse to further slug customers and post even larger profits. Where does it end?
