Never at any point during Labor's reign or during the global financial crisis did Australia's unemployment rate hit 6 per cent.

It sailed past 6 per cent shortly after Joe Hockey's first budget in June and hasn't been back since. The January figure of 6.4 per cent is the worst for 13 years - the worst since 2002 when Tony Abbott was employment minister, Hockey was small business minister and John Howard was yet to be blessed by the mining boom.

It's a reminder that nothing much has emerged to drive the economy since the mining construction boom ended; nothing much apart from home building. And that's the problem. Home loans are booming. Leaving aside refinancing, half of all new loans are now going to investors. Many of them are better described as speculators. The housing construction industry is working full bore in parts of the country and any further borrowing spurred by further interest rate cuts is likely to be diverted into pushing up house prices.