Interest rates aren't going to fix everything.

Interest Rates Are Not the Only Problem. We Need Bigger Thinking.

Over the last few years, every conversation seems to come back to the same thing.

Cost of living.

Interest rates.

Housing affordability.

Stress.

I feel like a lot of Australians are getting frustrated because it seems like the solution to every problem is just “put interest rates up again.”

I don’t believe interest rates are the real root cause of everything we are seeing right now.

Yes, inflation needs to be controlled. Everyone understands that, especially after seeing the price of everyday items rise so sharply in recent years. But a lot of what Australians have experienced recently has come from supply side shocks, rising construction costs, shortages, energy prices, global instability, and years of poor planning around housing and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the pressure keeps landing on everyday people with mortgages.

For a lot of families, every rate rise means:

less savings,

less confidence,

and more stress around simply holding onto the family home.

At the same time, people with large savings balances can actually benefit from higher interest rates through stronger returns on cash and term deposits.

That is where some of the frustration comes from. It can feel like one section of the population carries more of the burden than others.

Could governments be doing more from a fiscal and planning perspective instead of relying so heavily on interest rates to slow the economy down?

I believe there are bigger structural problems that need fixing.

Housing Supply Is Being Choked By Red Tape

One of the biggest issues in Australia is simply how difficult and slow it is to build homes.

There are layers of approvals, zoning restrictions, delays, planning bottlenecks, and red tape that can drag projects out for years, increasing costs across the board and eventually pushing prices higher for buyers.

If governments genuinely wanted to improve affordability, there are things they could do right now:

speed up zoning changes

fast track approvals

reduce unnecessary delays on key housing projects

assist in release of more land

invest in infrastructure before suburbs become overcrowded

That last point is something we are all becoming very familiar with in Geelong, especially around 3217, where population growth has increased significantly while infrastructure struggles to keep up.

We constantly hear people say “we need more housing,” but then the actual process to create housing becomes painfully slow and expensive.

That cost eventually flows through to the buyer.

The reality is simple:

when it takes longer to build, housing becomes more expensive.

Infrastructure Changes Everything

I also believe one of the biggest missed opportunities in Victoria is fast rail.

If people could reliably get to Melbourne quickly from regional areas, demand would naturally spread out across the state.

Imagine:

45 minutes from Colac to Melbourne

45 minutes to Ballarat

an hour from Bendigo to the CBD

35 minutes from Geelong

You would see huge population growth across regional Victoria almost overnight.

More people would happily live in regional areas if they still had strong access to Melbourne for work and lifestyle.

That creates multiple benefits:

more affordable housing options

less pressure on Melbourne

stronger regional economies

easier land supply

more room for families to build larger homes and settle long term

Instead, we continue forcing massive population growth into already congested areas while regional towns with enormous potential remain underdeveloped.

Australians Don’t Just Want Lower Rates. They Want Stability.

One thing I’ve noticed recently speaking with clients is that people are craving certainty.

That is why there has been renewed interest in fixed rates again.

Not necessarily because people think rates are going dramatically higher, but because people are emotionally exhausted from uncertainty.

Families want to know what their repayments are.

They want stability.

They want to feel safe.

They want to plan ahead without feeling like the ground is constantly shifting underneath them.

One of the biggest phrases I keep hearing lately is:

“we’re scared.”

People are worried about losing their homes.

Worried about keeping up with the cost of living.

Worried about providing the life they want for their children.

And that matters.

Because housing is not just economics.

It is where people raise children, build relationships, and create stability in their lives.

We Need Long Term Thinking

Australia does not just have a demand problem.

We have a planning problem.

An infrastructure problem.

A housing supply problem.

Interest rates can only do so much.

At some point, we need stronger long term vision around housing, transport, and affordability instead of relying so heavily on the Reserve Bank to carry the weight of the economy alone.

People do not expect miracles overnight. Most Australians understand these problems take time to fix.

But people do want to feel like there is a genuine plan to make life more affordable, housing more accessible, and the future more stable for everyday families.