After more than 4 and a quarter years, Sunraysia families and small businesses at last received interest rate relief they have been looking for through Tuesday’s 0.25 per cent cash rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia.  The four major banks said within an hour of the RBA announcement they would pass the cut on, in full, to borrowers.

It’s been 1,567 days between RBA rate cuts – coincidentally, the same duration as World War I’s hostilities.  Australian families and small businesses have battled through 12 interest rate hikes under Labor - including four double-hikes by half-a-percentage point.

Australians have watched on with envy as similar nations such as Canada, the USA, Europe and New Zealand cut rates by 1 to 2 per cent, and all we have until the RBA’s next meeting in April is ¼ of a per cent.

While a modest rate cut is welcome news, we have a long way to getting back on track to where Australians stood financially when Labor’s interest rate increases began. Under the Albanese Labor Government, we have seen the biggest collapse in living standards in our history.  On Tuesday the Reserve Bank painted a grim outlook for Australian financial wellbeing.  Sadly, there is more pain ahead for Australian families with Labor projecting it will be 2030 before we return to the economic conditions we had when the Coalition was in office in 2022.  

To beat inflation long-term, we need to remove the red tape strangling small businesses who are trying to invest and create jobs, take risks and create opportunities for themselves and for all Australians.  Tragically, too many small business owners tell me they are shutting up shop.  Since Labor took office, over 27,000 businesses have folded, with January’s national business insolvency data regrettably a new record high for Januaries.

Mallee residents and businesses alike also need cheaper, more affordable energy – a major cost-of-living pressure and input cost for businesses and farms alike.  We need to permanently reduce the cost of energy and cease Labor’s reckless, expensive rollout of costly and unwanted energy monstrosities across Mallee.