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Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on whether the RBA is set to lift the OCR again · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio. International
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New Zealand business.
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  Speaker 2: Murray Old Dozzy Correspondent is back with us. Muzz, how
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  Speaker 2: was your holiday, mate? Hello. Very good afternoon, Heather, and
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  Speaker 2: it was beautiful, thank you. It's a wonderful part of
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  Speaker 2: the world up there in Northern Europe, the Baltic, this
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  Speaker 2: crazy mixture of thousand-year-old buildings and a really hip, groovy,
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  Speaker 2: young population. I mean, the brand-new library in Helsinki has
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  Speaker 2: been voted the world's best. Apparently, it shaded the library
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  Speaker 2: in Christchurch. But I went in there twice. I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: believe my eyes. There are people there sewing, making 3D printing.
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  Speaker 2: You can use, you know, 100 different computers. You've got,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's obviously lots of books. You've got musical instruments.
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  Speaker 2: You can go out the back and hit drums and
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  Speaker 2: make recordings, for goodness sake. It's just amazing and a
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  Speaker 2: great part of the world. Clean and green, and they're
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  Speaker 2: proud of it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, very, very cool. And then you've come back and
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  Speaker 1: straight into an interest rate hike.
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  Speaker 2: That's what it looks like in one hour's time, we'll know.
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  Speaker 2: And you couldn't find an economist over here saying that
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  Speaker 2: won't happen. And what that will mean, it's more pressure
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  Speaker 2: on the federal government. A rise of a quarter of 1%
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  Speaker 2: today would take the cash rate from 4.35% to 4.6%.
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  Speaker 2: That's the highest level ever since November 2011. If passed
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  Speaker 2: on a full nearly $ 100 extra a month on repayments
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  Speaker 2: on a $ 600, 000 loan, that's chicken feet. There are so
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  Speaker 2: many loans over here, $ 1, $ 1. 1, $ 1. 2 million north of that.
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  Speaker 2: So people are really struggling. And, you know, the bank
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  Speaker 2: will meet again in November. And the ANZ Bank, at least,
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  Speaker 2: is betting it's going to raise interest rates again. Which means,
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  Speaker 2: of course, you hear Jim Chalmers there saying, oh, look,
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  Speaker 2: it's got nothing to do with us. Yes, it has.
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  Speaker 2: He's spending far too much money. You know, the public
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  Speaker 2: service span, the public sector span is enormous, not just federally,
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  Speaker 2: state as well. But, of course, the Middle Eastern war
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  Speaker 2: has pushed petrol prices up. Unlettered here this afternoon I
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  Speaker 2: saw was $ 2. 68, and that was my local cheap one. So, look,
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  Speaker 2: it's the cost of living. It's not Pauline Hanson whining
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  Speaker 2: about immigration, although that's having some traction. It's the cost
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  Speaker 2: of living. Who was it who said the American president?
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  Speaker 2: It's the economy, stupid. Is that Bill Clinton?
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  Speaker 1: I think it was one of Bill Clinton's advisers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. People are hurting. Yeah, too right. Yeah, bang on.
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  Speaker 1: And see, that data centre's been dumped. It has.
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  Speaker 2: And I guess this is a metaphor for the broader
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  Speaker 2: question that's being asked here. I know it's being asked
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand. It's certainly being asked in other parts
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  Speaker 2: of the world. A very big industrial property company, Goodman Group,
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  Speaker 2: they wanted to spend $ 800 million to build a huge
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  Speaker 2: data center nearly 30 meters tall. It would have operated
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  Speaker 2: 24-7 on a site currently occupied by four warehouses. Here's
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  Speaker 2: the thing. It's 10 minutes north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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  Speaker 2: It's right in the middle of suburbia. There's a school
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  Speaker 2: 150 metres away, right in the middle of suburban homes.
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  Speaker 2: The locals said, are you kidding? This giant big structure there,
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  Speaker 2: never mind the power requirements and the water. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it was going to be guzzling 35 litres of water
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  Speaker 2: every second, 1.4 million litres a day. And such has
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  Speaker 2: been the backlash that, yes, the Goodman Group says, we're
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  Speaker 2: not going to build it here now. We're going to
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  Speaker 2: walk away from the project. I mean, goodness me, there's
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  Speaker 2: plenty of people hammering, howling for these things to be
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  Speaker 2: built in outback Queensland and the Northern Territory. Why on
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  Speaker 2: earth they thought it was a good idea to do
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  Speaker 2: this in Lane Cove, I don't know. Yeah, fair point.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, a fair point. That's probably trouble waiting to happen. Maz,
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  Speaker 2: thank you.
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  Speaker 1: It's lovely to have you back.
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  Speaker 2: It's beautiful that you're back in our part of the world. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they don't deserve you up there. Murray Olds, Australia correspondent.
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