RBA governor Philip Lowe and Peter Dutton get a rise out of ALP leaders

RBA governor Philip Lowe. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Once again Philip Lowe – the independent and apolitical Reserve Bank governor – has dominated the political and parliamentary debate and kept the heat on his nominal overlords, Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers.

While the Prime Minister and Treasurer push responsibility for raising interest rates on to the “independent” Reserve Bank and blame Vladimir Putin, there’s no escaping the political pain of yet another average mortgage payment rise of $77 a month.

Albanese and Chalmers exude sympathy for households “under the pump” and “doing it tough”, while “telling it straight” that inflation will be “higher for longer” than they want. But it’s not an answer to the question the RBA is asking about the economy.

Nor can Albanese answer the Coalition questions in parliament about his promises to provide “cheaper energy and cheaper mortgages” – before the election and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The cost-of-living pressures through energy, rents, mortgages, fuel and groceries dictate the politics of 2023 and the monthly tolling of the RBA’s rate bell controls the parliamentary atmosphere.

Down to the sequence and substance of questions and Chalmers checking his mobile phone for the bank’s 2.30pm announcement, the rhythm of parliament and politics is determined by the rate announcement.

Peter Dutton, safe in assuming a rate rise, asked about superannuation changes not for any policy response but to tie Albanese to “another broken promise” and force him to avoid repeating promises he made about cutting costs before the election.

Chalmers conceded the “independent” Reserve Bank’s decision was more pressure on Australians “under the pump” but tried to deflect the responsibility to Lowe after the RBA hiked rates to 3.6 per cent on Tuesday.

He also tried to deflect the impact of the rise to 3.6 per cent, suggesting it was expected, it was flagged and anticipated but, again, it’s not an answer for the pain.

On a $750,000 mortgage, borrowers will be paying an extra $116 a month, and $1500 more than in April last year – a 42 per cent increase. Another 0.25-percentage-point interest rate rise will add an extra $77 on the monthly interest bill for a household with a $500,000 mortgage.

Even Chalmers’ point that Labor was planning to spend more money on “social and affordable housing” to address rising rent is not an answer providing any comfort to a household mortgage holder and nor is it an answer to Lowe’s calls for spending restraint.

And Albanese’s impossible-to-fulfil promise to cut power bills by $275 per household rubs salt into the mortgage wounds.

His only responses to the questions from Lowe and Dutton can be that he’s not responsible and that the Liberals only care about the “one half of one per cent” of superannuants who have $3m in their retirement savings accounts.

At least the next two RBA decision days on rates fall on non-sitting days, so Chalmers and Albanese don’t have to sit through a public, ritual repudiation.