13:30 - Wayne Swan has joined Kevin Rudd in a press conference attacking John Howard over today's interest rate announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Rudd says Howard can no longer be trusted with interest rates and that the quarter of a per cent rise shows he and Peter Costello are out of touch with working Australian families.
"Mr Howard needs to accept full, unqualified responsibility for his broken promises ... that he would keep interest rates at record lows," Mr Rudd said.
Mr Swan said the Government had ignored 20 warnings from the RBA regarding the impact a skilled labour shortage was having on inflation.
He said: "The Government has been inactive and complacent about skills shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks that are putting upwards pressure on inflation."
09:30 - Rudd has used the RBA's decision ths morning to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.75 per cent to attack the Coalition's economic credentials.
"A core concern in shaping future interest rates is inflation," he told Southern Cross Radio.
"Then you go on to the question of what determines inflation. And when it comes to the Reserve Bank's 20 warnings in recent years for the Government to do more when it comes to investment in skills in the economy, then that's basically the warning which the Government has ignored."
Rudd will focus on the rise while he campaigns in Melbourne today.