Jim Chalmers wants Australians to believe their mortgage pain has nothing to do with him.

Tomorrow at 2:30pm, the Reserve Bank is expected to raise interest rates for the fifth time. That would push the official rate to 4.85 per cent, the highest since 2008.

According to the Australian Financial Review, that adds more than $6000 a year to repayments on an average mortgage.¹

That’s money for your groceries.

Your power bill.

Your kids’ Christmas presents.

Mortgages haven’t eaten this much of the family pay packet since the late 1980s.

To make matters worse, the home you’re paying off is worth less. House prices fell a record 4.7 per cent in just three months, and prices dropped in every capital city.

So what does the Treasurer have to say?

He wants “perspective”. He says his budget is playing “a helpful role” in bringing prices down.²

A helpful role?

Prices are rising 4.3 per cent a year. Compared with the size of the economy, Labor is spending more than any government in 40 years, apart from during COVID.

Economists keep telling Labor the same thing: cut spending.

Chalmers blames the war in the Middle East for pushing up petrol prices. That’s part of the story.

It doesn’t change the bigger picture. Labor keeps spending while families tighten their belts.

Ask Chalmers to bring back the fuel tax cut, and suddenly he’s careful with money.

“The budget can’t afford to do that forever,” he said.

Funny how the budget can always afford Labor’s priorities.

Like pushing Net Zero.

Chris Bowen’s role leading UN Net Zero climate talks could cost taxpayers almost $150 million. His department set aside up to $4.2 million to book luxury Fiji resorts for climate delegates.³

Meanwhile, Net Zero at home is driving up the cost of power, and you pay.

Then there’s immigration. In 2022-23, a record 538,000 more people moved to Australia than left. Another 429,000 the next year, then another 306,000.

That’s more than 1.2 million people in three years under Labor.

Housing hasn’t kept up. There’s not enough of it, and it’s costing more to build.

In September, housing costs pushed up prices more than anything else.⁴

You pay for it in rent, in house prices, and now in your mortgage.

Australian families are doing it tough.

Albanese says the problems are “not going to be solved overnight”.

Australian families can’t wait that long.

And tomorrow might not be the last rise. ANZ bank expects another one in December.

Australia needs a government that puts Australians first. One that cuts the waste, ends the luxury climate trips, brings migration down, and gets spending under control.

Until then, Albanese and Chalmers keep their jobs.

You pay at the bank, at the checkout, and at the bowser.

They stay.

You pay.

In every way.

Sources:

^{1 Australian Financial Review, 2 November 2026 – https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/home-borrowers-face-6000-hit-from-interest-rates-as-house-prices-tank-20261102-p61abq}

^{2 ABC News, 28 October 2026 – https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-28/chalmers-downplays-further-fuel-discounts-amid-high-inflation/107319372}

^{3 The Australian – https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/chris-bowens-department-sets-aside-42m-to-reserve-luxury-fiji-resorts-for-cop-delegates/news-story/0f3c7265ddf7501defc592e2d9f62524}

^{4 SBS News, 28 October 2026 – https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/inflation-hotter-than-expected-ahead-of-rba-rates-meeting/f0h2na1lz}