RTRS - Australia Senate jeopardises rate cut - Howard .  CANBERRA 1996-08-23  Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the possibility of lower interest rates was being jeopardised by Parliament 's upper house where opposition parties planned to scrutinise the 1996/97 budget .  " Every time the Senate hacks away at the budget , they hack away at the lower interest rate environment , " Howard told reporters on Thursday night after attending a Liberal Party function .  Senior ministers have repeatedly warned since the fiscally-tight budget was handed down on Tuesday night that the chance of lower official rates could be hampered in the Senate .  The budget contained sharp spending cuts in areas such as the labour market to reduce the deficit to about A$ 5.6 billion .  The conservative government 's plan for reform of the industrial relations environment and to partially sell Telstra has also been opposed by parties in the Senate such as the [START_ENT] Greens [END_ENT] and Australian Democrats as well as the official opposition , the Labor Party .  Official cash rates were last cut on July 31 to 7.0 percent .  -- Sydney Newsroom 61-2 373-1800
Australian Greens