late 2010, so an increase, when it occurs, will represent a significant change for many people. it is important to remember, though, that higher interest rates will be accompanied by faster growth in incomes than we have seen over recent times. in this sense, it will be a sign that things are returning to normal. of course, higher rates will also be welcomed by many depositors, who have been earning low rates of returns on their savings over recent times. the third point is that because the progress that is being made is gradual, and is expected to remain so, there is not a strong case for a near - term adjustment in interest rates. the board ’ s view is that it is likely that we will hold steady for a while yet. it is likely to be some time before we are at full employment and the inflation rate is comfortably within the target range on a sustained basis. we are prepared to maintain the current monetary policy stance until these benchmarks are more clearly in sight. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches so these are our three recent messages on monetary policy. on other matters, we are planning to release the upgraded $ 50 banknote in october. the new note will have the same high - tech security features as the new $ 5 and $ 10 notes. all up, there are around 700 million $ 50 notes on issue – that ’ s around 28 per person – so it is a big logistical exercise. you may have read in the press that there has been an industrial dispute at note printing australia, which manufactures australia ’ s banknotes in craigieburn, melbourne. i am pleased to be able to report that an in principle agreement on a new enterprise bargaining agreement was reached earlier this week and that we have sufficient notes to launch the new $ 50 in october as planned. finally, at previous hearings we have spoken about the new payments platform – the new payments system that allows australians to easily make information - rich, real - time, 24 / 7 payments to each other, without having to know bsb and account numbers. since the system was launched in february, 1. 8 million australians have registered a payid – usually their mobile phone number – that can be used easily to address payments in the new system. the take - up of the system has, however, been less than earlier industry projections. this partly reflects the fact that a number of the major banks have been slow to make the new system available to their customers. they are now making it available,

eye on housing market developments across the country. the slowing in the housing market has reduced the demand for credit by investors. there has also been some tightening in the supply of credit, partly in response to the royal commission, although the main story is one of reduced demand. the average variable interest rate paid by borrowers has declined further over the past six months, to be about 10 basis points lower than a year ago. you would not have expected to have seen this if supply constraints were the main reason for slower credit growth. a third issue that the board has focused on recently is growth of wages. as i have discussed previously, a lift in aggregate wages growth would be a welcome development from several perspectives. it would contribute to inflation being closer to the midpoint of the inflation target. stronger income growth would also help in the context of high levels of household debt. it would also be of benefit to government finances and more generally would strengthen our sense of shared prosperity. and, to the extent that stronger wages growth is backed by stronger productivity growth, it would boost our real incomes. we had another reading on the wage price index a couple of days ago, which showed a welcome uptick. over the past year, the wage price index increased by 2. 1 per cent and the broader measure, which captures bonuses, increased by 2. 5 per cent. these figures are both up from a year ago. this week, we also received employment data for the month of july. while the month - to - month employment data are volatile, the unemployment rate has fallen to 5. 3 per cent, which is the lowest it has been for some years. taken together, these data are consistent with our view that wages growth and inflation will pick up gradually over the next couple of years as the labour market continues to tighten. this tightening is evident in a number of indicators. the number of job vacancies, as a share of the labour force, is at a record high. firms are reporting that it is harder to find workers with the necessary skills, and survey - based measures of hiring intentions remain positive. in our liaison program we also hear reports of larger wage increases for certain occupations where workers with the necessary skills are in short supply. we expect that we will hear more such reports over time. even so, the pick - up in wages growth is still expected to be fairly gradual. we still have some 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches spare capacity in the labour market, including part - time