2007 Election

UPDATE: As of 5pm all four banks have already passed on the interest rate increase.

For the second time in as many years, the Reserve Bank has helped cement the banking community’s reputation as a cuddly bunch of warm-hearted funsters by using Melbourne Cup Day to stick it to home-owners.

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While you were munching on some prawns the RBA increased rates from 3.25 per cent to 3.5 per cent, resisting the temptation to go for a much more dramatic and painful 0.5 per cent rise, but still sticking by its warning that there would be more more pain to come.

Many people with mortgages will shrug this one off – we’re still about $700 a month better off in terms of repayments than we were when the GFC hit.

Continue reading "Kevin Rudd does not want to own these rate increases" »

“You lying Labor bastard” read the mail from north-west Tasmania, “Piss off”. It was hate mail from heaven. Let me explain.

It was mid 2007 and I was Labor’s National Campaign Director. We had started a nation wide campaign about a less popular aspect of the Howard Government’s policy agenda. Part of that campaign was an informative pamphlet about the finer points of the policy. It was, of course, sprinkled with the odd bit of political rhetoric and carefully constructed messages.
The hate mail was return mail.  A loyal Coalition voter had decided to give me a bit of “what-for” with a thick black pen. It was heavenly because I knew the pamphlets were actually going out to voters (a constant anxiety for any campaign director). I became even happier as the weeks rolled on and the Coalition hate mail intensified from across the country.

Continue reading "Heavenly hate mail and the Lindsay pamphlet scandal" »