1. 2023
  2. In focus: Australian interest rates over the last four and a half decades

The Fundamental Law

Alan Moir
The Sydney Morning Herald

Ain’t that the truth. You could write a spin doctors’ manual based on this cartoon. Peter Costello served as John Howard’s treasurer from 1996 to 2007. A few days after Alan Moir’s cartoon appeared, Costello delivered his latest budget, in which – naturally – he claimed credit for a fall in interest rates.

Peter Costello explains that when interest rates come down it's due to enlightened government policy but when they go up it's because of uncontrollable international forces.