Joyce blames government spending for rate rise pain

Federal Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has blamed heavy government spending for forcing the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates high, after the RBA lifted the cash rate to 4.6 per cent this week.

Speaking to 4BC Brisbane, Joyce said families in Treasurer Jim Chalmers' own electorate of Rankin, which takes in parts of Logan, were feeling the strain of the latest rate rise. Talkback callers to the program described growing anger among local residents, with some calling for a change of government over the cost of living.

Joyce argued the government had offered little acknowledgment of household pressure and instead focused on defending the Reserve Bank's decision. He claimed Canberra had pushed roughly 60 billion dollars in extra spending into the economy in the 2025-26 financial year compared with the year before, on top of already high spending levels, and said that scale of stimulus was always going to add to inflation.

He also pointed to subsidies and investment schemes tied to renewable energy and other intermittent power projects, arguing that spending was adding to inflationary pressure as well. Joyce said the debate over interest rates focused too heavily on the Reserve Bank's monetary policy while ignoring fiscal policy, the government's own ability to rein in spending.

According to Joyce, Australia now has the second-highest interest rates in the developed world behind only Iceland, a situation he described as poor economic management given the country's resources in coal, gas, iron ore, agriculture and energy.

On the public service, Joyce said a Coalition-aligned approach would start by abolishing the federal climate change department outright, with affected staff redeployed elsewhere in government. He said he would not pursue cuts on the scale carried out by former Queensland premier Campbell Newman, but would instead rely on attrition, noting roughly one in eight public servants retire each year and arguing many of those positions should not be refilled.

He said savings should go toward core services such as health, pensions and defence, while regulation affecting farmers and small businesses, including rules around land clearing and firearms ownership, should be wound back. A smaller federal government with less regulatory reach, he said, would do more for household budgets than continued stimulus spending.

The rate rise adds further pressure to mortgage holders across Logan and greater Brisbane, with higher repayments expected to flow through to variable home loans in the coming weeks.