The Prime Minister must be judged for taking no responsibility when it comes to interest rate hikes, cost of living pressure and stagnant wages, Labor says. 

But, the Liberal-National coalition is on the defensive after the central bank raised interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.

Scott Morrison moved to freeze the deeming rate for almost 900,000 social security recipients.

The deeming rate freeze is expected to apply to 885,000 people, with the lower deeming rate set to remain at 0.25%, while the upper deeming rate will stay at 2.25%.

Liberal campaign spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the freeze would provide greater financial certainty for older Australians. 

Senator Ruston defended the rate rise as an inevitable occurrence following the pandemic. 

“This is our economy coming out of a shutdown, it’s our open economy reopening,” she told ABC radio on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the official cash interest rate from a historic low of 0.1% to 0.35% – the first time rise since 2010 – ahead of the 21 May federal election.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the timing of the rise weeks out from an election “is what it is”. 

“They are an independent Reserve Bank, and it’s not for me to criticise the board for the decisions that they take and they’ve explained the decision just yesterday,” he told the Nine Network on Wednesday.

“It does, hopefully, reinforce in people’s minds why strong economic management is so important.

“The timing is what it is and that’s as a result of higher inflation that we’ve seen both globally, but also here in Australia domestically.” 

Mr Morrison expressed sympathy with mortgage holders facing increased monthly repayments as a result.

But, Labor said while there were international factors which influenced the economy, there were also domestic pressures the government could control.

“Our issue with the Prime Minister isn’t that he doesn’t take responsibility for all of this, it’s that he takes responsibility for none of this,” shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC Radio.

“That’s the difference between him and Anthony Albanese.” 

Dr Chalmers said the interest rate rise was the first of many challenges to come as the Reserve Bank also forecast increases to inflation. 

“There are things that governments can do to try and manage the economy in the context of high inflation and the context of rising interest rates and that’s what our economic plan is all about,” he said. 

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