The treasurer is very well prepared for this press conference – it is exactly as he expected.

Chalmers:

This is not the outcome that millions of Australian home owners would have wanted but it’s certainly the outcome that markets and economists were expecting. Interest rates have already come down three times in six months this year and that’s a very good thing. The three interest rate cuts which are already in the system are already providing very welcome relief to millions of Australians with a mortgage.

For a household with a mortgage of $700,000, the rate cuts this year means they are saving about $330 a month – or about $4,000 a year. Now, the progress that we have made together on inflation this year has already given the Reserve Bank the confidence to cut interest rates three times in that 6-month period.

Now, we know that when interest rates are cut around the world, they’re not always cut at every meeting or indeed every couple of meetings and so this outcome today from the independent Reserve Bank is not a surprise to the government.