Fed: Skills and infrastructure would keep rates low: Rudd

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2007
Fed: Skills and infrastructure would keep rates low: Rudd

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - A Labor government would have invested more into the skills shortage
and infrastructure to ensure interest rates would not rise again today, Opposition Leader
Kevin Rudd says.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is widely tipped to raise its cash rate to 6.5
per cent today, its highest level since November 1996.

Mr Rudd said if Labor was in power it would have acted differently to ensure rates
would not rise.

"It goes to what has been a consistent criticism of this government's performance over
a long period of time on the capacity constraints within the economy - that is, infrastructure
bottlenecks and the skills shortage," the Labor leader told ABC Radio today.

"If you handle those two things better, let me tell you, you make the overall economic
equation easier."

Mr Rudd said the coalition had neglected issues surrounding the skills shortage for too long.

"The government has ignored what Labor has been saying for years now about the need
for a greater investment in education, skills and training and now all the chickens have
come home to roost as far as that impact on the overall economy is concerned."

And when it comes to infrastructure, the government has been playing an ongoing blame
game with the states, he said.

"Why don't they just roll up their sleeves and become part of the solution?" Mr Rudd said.

"We have an answer to that, it's called Infrastructure Australia and we want to partner
with the private sector and with state governments to unplug infrastructure bottlenecks."

But Mr Rudd could not guarantee that housing, petrol or food prices would be lower under Labor.

"I'm not in the business of making irrational promises that you can't deliver on," Mr Rudd said.

"What we can only guarantee is that we will have on the beat an effective competition
policy watchdog."

AAP kc/jm/bwl

KEYWORD: RATES RUDD

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