Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has revealed that an unnamed politician allegedly described Aussies seeking financial counselling as ‘no-hopers’.
Writing in the Herald Sun, Pape said the comment was made during a catch-up with a politician who was seeking his endorsement ahead of the Victorian state election.
Pape revealed he met the politician at a suburban cafe in their electorate.
While the politician wanted Pape’s endorsement, he said he used the meeting to push for increased funding for free financial counselling.
After outlining his case, Pape said the politician responded: ‘Good on you for helping out the no-hopers.’
He added the politician appeared to regret the comment immediately.
‘No sooner had the words left their mouth than a look of horror came over their face,’ he wrote.
‘It was like they wanted to reach out, grab the words, and stuff them back down their gob.’
Scott Pape (pictured) said a politician referred to a group of Australians as ‘no-hopers’
Pape did not identify the politician and said he would not reveal their name.
‘There are a lot of people who view financial hardship as a character flaw,’ he wrote.
‘Something that happens to people who can’t hold down a job.’
Pape used the anecdote to highlight new research showing that many Australians seeking help with debt are in paid work.
He pointed to the Consumer Action Law Centre’s Price of Survival report, which found 38 per cent of debt-support clients in Queensland and Victoria were employed or self-employed.
Mortgage stress was the most common issue raised by callers.
‘No surprises there,’ Pape wrote.
He said rising interest rates and stubborn inflation were putting enormous pressure on household budgets.
Pape warned that household budgets were being pushed by rising inflationary pressures (file)
Pape claimed Australian households now spend a larger share of their income on interest payments than they did in 1990, when official interest rates reached 17 per cent.
He said the Reserve Bank could lift rates further as it sought to bring inflation under control.
The RBA board is set to meet on Monday and will hand down its rates decision on Tuesday, the same day as the Melbourne Cup.
Pape argued the central bank had been lifting rates because inflation remained too high.
‘Why do they keep lifting rates on home owners? Two reasons. First, because government spending is in part fuelling inflation. (The Treasurer is instead blaming global oil prices… so why aren’t the US and UK hiking as aggressively as we are?)’
‘And second, because they have no choice.’
‘Their main job is to stop prices rising too fast, preferably below 3 per cent a year,’ he wrote.
Inflation figures released on Wednesday showed prices had risen 4.3 per cent over the year to September.
Pape said higher petrol, housing and education were among the major drivers.
‘In other words, the stuff you can’t skip,’ Pape wrote.
He warned that those price increases were having a compounding effect on family finances and were hitting the most vulnerable Australians the hardest.
Pape said the people bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis were often ordinary workers trying to stay afloat, not the stereotype in the unnamed politician’s remark.
‘The people they hit the hardest are what that politician… calls the “no-hopers”,’ he wrote.
