00:00Hi everyone.
00:03Still smiling but remaining resolute.
00:06The RBA Governor faced off growing pressure to ease financial pain on Australian households.
00:11The board needs to be confident that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target before
00:16any decisions are made about a reduction in interest rates.
00:20With rates at a 12-year high at 4.35%, Michelle Bullock acknowledged people were hurting.
00:26We do recognise that there are people out there that are having to make some very, very
00:31difficult decisions.
00:33Higher interest rates have been hammering homeowners.
00:36Really tough and I'm just waiting for them to come back down.
00:39Single mum Tammy is budgeting every cent.
00:42She now spends nearly half of her pay on the mortgage alone.
00:45It's the thing I have the least control over.
00:47You can control the rest of it to a certain extent but not the mortgage.
00:51While she's still able to make ends meet, a growing number of Australians are falling
00:55behind on repayments.
00:57The latest data shows the share of bad loans has risen above pre-pandemic levels to over
01:031%.
01:04OK.
01:05The Treasurer is squinting at the faintest of silver linings, saying at least there wasn't
01:09a hike.
01:10The fact that interest rates haven't gone up for the best part of the year, I think,
01:14is an indication that we have been making welcome and encouraging progress in the fight
01:19against inflation.
01:20The Reserve Bank next meets in November but don't hold your breath for a rate cut then.
01:25The Commonwealth Bank is forecasting rate relief in December but that's ahead of most
01:29economists who are predicting we won't see a rate cut until next year.
01:34Because policy works with a lag, you actually have to start cutting before you're at target
01:39otherwise you've left it too late and I think February is about right.
01:43Our view is we won't get a rate cut until somewhere like April or May next year, the
01:46second quarter of next year.
01:48Thanks everyone.
01:49And any relief is still likely months away.
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