Scott Morrison has played down the political implications of a looming interest rate hike as Labor prepares to pin blame on the Prime Minister if the Reserve Bank pulls the trigger at a meeting on Tuesday.
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The prospect of a mid-election rate hike has framed the political fight over cost of living as the campaign passes the halfway mark.
The Reserve Bank hasn't raised interest rates during an election campaign since 2007, when Liberal Prime Minister John Howard was dumped from office.
Mr Morrison was on Monday downplaying suggestions a rate hike would harm the Coalition's chances in the May 21 poll.
"It's not about politics," Mr Morrison told reporters after visiting a retirement village in the marginal Victorian seat of Corangamite.
"What happens tomorrow deals with what people pay on their mortgages. That's what I'm concerned about. It's not about what it means for politics."
"It's not about me, it's not about Mr Albanese. It's not about the Treasurer, or the shadow treasurer. It's about Australians themselves and the the decisions they're making."
Mr Morrison praised home owners who had payed down mortgages and "built up buffers" while interest rates were low in order to insulate themselves from an inevitable rate hike.
"Australians know that there are pressures on interest rates. That's why ... so many of them have been switching to fixed rates," he said.
"That's why many of them have been trying to get ahead of their mortgages to ensure that they're protected, and we've helped them do that."
The Reserve Bank slashed interest rates down to an historic low of 0.10 per cent in November 2020 in response to the COVID-induced economic emergency.
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Labor treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers had earlier sought to weaponise the cash rate decision in an attempt undermine the Coalition's credibility on economic management.
"Whether the Reserve Bank raises interest rates this week or next month, Scott Morrison's economic credibility is in tatters," Mr Chalmers said.
"This is the third wave of Scott Morrison's cost of living crisis. This is a triple whammy of falling real wages, skyrocketing inflation, and interest rates are about to rise as well."
