Fed: Turnbull gets another pasting for rates comments

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2006
Fed: Turnbull gets another pasting for rates comments

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - Millionaire MP Malcolm Turnbull has received another pasting
for saying the latest interest rate rise was "over dramatised".

Labor MPs today renewed their attack on the former merchant banker, but his backbench
colleagues said the Sydney MP and parliamentary secretary to the prime minister had been
misinterpreted.

Mr Turnbull, whose seat of Wentworth takes in some of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs,
has also said soaring petrol prices were not a talking point with his constituents.

Labor has seized on the comments, branding Mr Turnbull out of touch.

Opposition backbencher Peter Garrett, whose seat of Kingsford Smith borders Wentworth,
said Mr Turnbull had failed to tap into the concerns of voters.

"Aussies wake up in the morning and try and figure out how they're going to get through
the day, how they're going to pay their bills," Mr Garrett said.

"They would have seen Malcolm Turnbull's comments and thought, well, he's not responding
and living the kind of life I am, and I think to that extent it just demonstrates that
Mr Turnbull's out of the touch with most of the electorate including the people of Kingsford
Smith."

Other Liberal MPs including Jackie Kelly and Louise Markus have said interest rates
were not the big issue for their constituents.

Western Sydney Labor MP Chris Bowen branded those comments arrogant.

"For any MP to say that they haven't been contacted about interest rates from their
constituency shows that they're either out of touch or unbelievably arrogant," he said.

"And they should apologise today to people in their electorates who are paying increased
interest rates."

Queensland Labor backbencher Bernie Ripoll was also unhappy with Mr Turnbull's comments.

"It might have no real effect for those who don't have a mortgage, but the reality
is for ordinary Australians that do have a mortgage and a high one at that, then this
is really going to hurt them," he said.

Liberal colleagues barely defended Mr Turnbull today, with West Australian Don Randall
saying he thought the comments had been misinterpreted.

"I actually talked to him about that because I don't agree with those sentiments,"

Mr Randall said.

"I think people in my electorate, for example, are pretty highly geared and any interest
rate rise hurts their budgets or hurts them and I have a lot of empathy and feeling for
them because I'm pretty highly geared myself.

"I don't think Malcolm, after discussing it with him, meant it as it came out."

NSW country Liberal MP Alby Schultz said Mr Turnbull should have chosen his words more carefully.

"I think probably a choice of better words might have been more appropriate," he said.

"But I understand what he was getting to, he was saying petrol prices were hurting
people more than a quarter of a per cent of a interest rate rise."

Labor is expected to use Mr Turnbull's comments in a broad attack on the government's
economic credentials in question time today.

AAP rp/sb/grc/sd

KEYWORD: RATES MPS

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