Category Archives: Reserve Bank of Australia

Australia politics live: Dutton calls Labor’s international student caps bill ‘a dog’s breakfast’; RBA fuels expectations for February interest rates cut

Posted on by

Follow today’s news headlines live

First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund

The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.

The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.

Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.

In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Albanese tells caucus Labor will campaign on ‘risk’ of Dutton; Miles returns as Queensland Labor leader

Posted on by

Follow today’s news headlines live

‘We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force,’ says Matt Keough

The defence personnel minister, Matt Keough, has also been talking about that retention and renumeration package for defence.

We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force.

That does mean it had a vulnerability. We’re looking at moving to more of a mesh-type arrangement of satellites, which provides greater resilience, with a more up-to-date technology, and we’ll be able to deliver the technology faster as well.

We are very much confident that we can meet these targets and that’s because we have properly funded them and we have a plan to get there, which is about really improving the terms of service for those who work in our defence forces.

We’re increasing and expanding the bonuses for continuing on in the defence force. We’re continuing the original retention bonus after your initial service obligation for three years and beyond that. There will be another bonus for people who stay in the defence force after that. And that’s really targeting those who are in their seventh, eighth, ninth years of service, which gets to the middle ranks where we’ve got an issue. And we’re also going to grow the active reserves so there are more opportunities for people in the reserve to do full-time or part-time work in the defence force.

This original plan goes back seven or eight years and it was about having two or three satellites above Australia to deliver that capability. Since then, we have seen technologies develop which can shoot satellites out of the sky but we have also seen technologies develop where you have thousands of micro satellites in a more distributed way providing the same effect and we are seeing that with Starlink above Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: QLD LNP leader says end of coal before 2030s ‘fanciful’; patients at Sydney GP given less-effective vaccines

Posted on by

The LNP leader, David Crisafulli, appears to be walking away from a commitment to 75% emissions reduction by 2035. Follow today’s news live

Rowland questioned on gambling ad ban

Michelle Rowland was also asked why it has taken 16 months for the government – as yet – to make no decision on gambling ads. The communications minister said the government has “been working diligently in this space” but action “should have been taken on this some 10 years ago”.

We’re working very closely with the states and territories because the vast majority of recommendations in our late colleague Peta Murphy’s report go to issues that go across commonwealth and state jurisdictions.

We’re also working very closely to ensure that there are no unintended consequences here and it’s actually effective.

We have every anticipation that we will be able to respond comprehensively this year and that’s what we’re working towards as a government.

We will be taking advice on the appropriate form in which that can be done. Legislation is obviously an option because there is an interactive gambling act at the commonwealth level, which enables some of these approaches to be implemented.

There will be penalty for the platforms just as they are now in the Online Safety Act … These penalties will be drafted and, as I said, we’re currently reviewing the Online Safety Act because the penalties as they stand … the maximum penalties are less than $1 million for some offences.

They are being challenged but, at the same time, the industry does understand the need to comply here and, by and large, does comply with the rules under the Online Safety Act.

Continue reading...

Fixed and variable home loans fall ahead of expected cash rate cut by RBA

Posted on by

Australia’s interest rate is forecast to fall from 4.35% to 3.6% by this time next year, prompting seven lenders to cut their rates this week

Lenders have started lowering their mortgage rates en masse influenced by expectations of future interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank – moves that could tempt borrowers to restructure their home loans.

The downward drift in rates is especially prevalent in fixed loans, with seven lenders cutting their rates by an average of 0.3 percentage points over the past week, according to Canstar. Four lenders cut variable rates by smaller margins.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Assange says he is free because he ‘pled guilty to journalism’ – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

National weather forecasts

Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:

Continue reading...

Australia’s housing crisis may be starting to ease as home prices fall in four capital cities

Posted on by

New data also shows auction figures softening while rent rises are at their slowest pace in years

Australia’s housing crisis may be starting to ease with dwelling price rises tapering off and rents increasing at their slowest pace in four years, data groups say.

Property values increased 0.4% in September, close to the 0.3% rise recorded for both the previous two months, CoreLogic reported. PropTrack’s housing index was basically flat, rising just 0.04% for the month.

Continue reading...

RBA warns two factors risk increasing number of Australians caught in mortgage struggle

Posted on by

Vast majority of borrowers servicing their debts but arrears could grow if economy slows more than expected, bank says

The number of Australians in financial stress is “small” but will be “magnified” if the economy slows more than expected or interest rates linger higher for longer, the Reserve Bank has warned.

While overseas challenges – including a faltering Chinese economy – could also upset forecasts, Australia’s financial system continued “to display a high level of resilience”, the bank said in its semi-annual financial stability review.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

No cuts in ‘near term’ as RBA leaves Australia’s official interest rate unchanged at 4.35%

Posted on by

RBA decision was in line with economists’ forecasts as economy endures persistent inflationary pressures

The governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock, says she does not see interest rate cuts “in the near term” as the central bank waits for clearer evidence inflation is in retreat before it begins cutting borrowing costs.

The RBA ended its latest two-day board meeting on Tuesday by keeping its cash rate at 4.35%, the level its remained since November. The decision was as economists had expected.

Continue reading...

Reserve Bank expected to leave interest rate untouched for seventh meeting in a row

Posted on by

Economic activity was ‘a little bit softer’ than central bank had predicted, one expert notes, but a rate cut still seems unlikely

How soon the Reserve Bank might cut interest rates will be the focus for borrowers and economists alike when the central bank wraps up its latest meeting on Tuesday.

Governor Michele Bullock is expected to keep the RBA’s key rate unchanged for a seventh meeting in a row, according to a survey of 45 economists by Reuters. The bank lifted the rate 13 times between May 2022 and last November.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Guardian Essential poll: more voters blaming Albanese government for interest rate rises

Posted on by

However poll shows majority back Labor’s plan to cap international students enrolments in tertiary education

More voters are blaming the Albanese government for interest rate rises but Labor appears to have hit the electoral sweet spot with its proposed cap on international student enrolments.

Those are the conclusions of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,132 voters conducted after a week of debate about whether the Reserve Bank should begin cutting interest rates due to extremely soft growth.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Despite all the doom and gloom on Australia’s economy, could the worst be behind us?

Posted on by

We hear about the ‘weakest growth in decades’ and being ‘smashed’ by the RBA, but positive tidings abound – if you want to look for them

In a week dominated by headlines declaring the “weakest growth in decades” (excluding Covid) with an economy being “smashed” by the Reserve Bank, it might seem Australia teeters on the edge on an abyss.

For some households and businesses, the challenge of paying stratospheric housing costs amid 13-year-high interest rates will alas be overwhelming.

Continue reading...

Housing construction and renovations to continue decline for ‘at least 12 months’, Australian building supplier says

Posted on by

Reece forecasts further ‘softness’ in the building and renovation markets over the coming year

Australians’ love affair with their home has been unshakeable, with property owners usually willing to upgrade, detonate and renovate even during financial downturns.

But according to major plumbing and bathroom products supplier Reece, that is now being tested.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia’s productivity riddle – and what it might mean for interest rates

Posted on by

Michele Bullock keeps telling us productivity is flatlining. How it changes may well determine if the Reserve Bank will tolerate wage rises beyond 3%

If the Reserve Bank’s GDP forecasts about the Australian economy are right, we should be close to a nadir with a sustainable upswing on the way – provided we can get more efficient at what we do.

Productivity growth – a concept that quickens the pulse of economists and almost nobody else – has slowed in Australia and most other developed nations for years.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Palaszczuk appointed to Australia Post board; Shorten says Dutton ‘implying all Gazans are terrorists’

Posted on by

Palaszczuk, who retired from politics in December after almost nine years as QLD premier, will serve a three-year term as a non-executive director. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘We have to have a constant reminder’

The committee also called for a culturally appropriate and nationally significant recognition and remembrance of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children. Dorinda Cox said this would be “significant” if the government accepted the recommendation:

It would … have some permanent features to remind us the role that history has played for missing and murdered or disappeared women and children and First Nations women and children in this country, because there’s a story there that needs to be told, and we have to have a constant reminder.

Like we do … with the Australian war memorial of the safety that we have as a country, but also that this part of our history – this is now ingrained in and sketched into. And if we want to continue to work on this and continue to maintain safety for women and children and the most vulnerable, which is First Nations – as we know, we’re in an emergency for all women, but First Nations women and children are at the front of that – we have to have some permanent features, otherwise we become invisible.

What we hear too often is that this is a state and territory problem. States are responsible for their police forces, in particular … We have to centre our approaches and our outcomes in [addressing these issues] and we have to look at the culture of the organisations, such as police.

There’s lots of reporting on the media in relation to the attitudes of police across Australia, and that has to get better, but we have to have a measure against that – we can’t just put in the attorney general [to] have a chat to the police ministers, and nothing changes … Because if we don’t look at this in a way of wanting change, nothing ever changes.

Continue reading...

RBA ‘will not hesitate’ to raise interest rates again to combat inflation, Michele Bullock warns

Posted on by

Reserve Bank governor says there is ‘considerable uncertainty’ over Australia’s economic future and the board ‘remains vigilant’

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said the central bank won’t hesitate to lift interest rates again to reduce “persistently high inflation” while acknowledging “I know this is not what people want to hear”.

In a speech on Thursday in the northern New South Wales town of Armidale, Bullock also talked up the need for more investment in renewable energy zones, noting these would account for half of electricity generation in coming decades.

Continue reading...

Anyone hoping for lower interest rates any time soon will be dismayed by RBA chief’s media conference

Posted on by

Governor Michele Bullock makes clear any expectation of interest rate cuts this year ‘not aligned’ with bank’s present thinking

Those hoping for lower interest rates soon – whether stressed borrowers or those in the Albanese government itching for an early election – would have been dismayed by the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock’s media conference on Tuesday.

The RBA board had just wrapped up the eighth meeting under her leadership and considered just two options for its key interest rate: “hold for some time” or another rate hike. A rate cut was not up for discussion.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Inflation rises to 4%, stoking concern interest rates could increase again

Posted on by

The consumer price index increased to its highest level in 2024, indicating the Reserve Bank is unlikely to cut interest rates soon

Australia’s monthly inflation rate increased to its highest level in 2024 in the latest indication that the Reserve Bank won’t be cutting interest rates soon and might yet hike again.

Consumer prices rose 4% last month from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That compared with the 3.6% pace recorded for April, and the 3.8% rate expected for May by economists.

The jump in May’s inflation was propelled in part by automotive fuel prices, which were up 9.3% from a year earlier even as they retreated 5.1% during the month itself.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

RBA governor says inflation still above target; Matt Kean to retire from politics – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Liberals criticise treatment of journalist by Chinese officials at press conference

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham has condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei at federal parliament yesterday.

This was an entirely counterproductive and inappropriate act by Chinese officials that should have been called out by our prime minister and government officials.

It is a reminder that we have two very different systems, the Chinese system and the Australian system, different systems of government, of course as a democracy, different respect when it comes to media, to freedom of speech, but this visit is taking place in Australia.

It is concerning, I think a lot of this comes from so many Australians genuinely doing a tough at the moment, having to make really tough decisions, from telling their kids that they can no longer play basketball or be part of the scouts group because they can’t afford the … 500 bucks a year that costs, to other Australians who are deciding between going to see the GP or fulfilling a script and putting food on the table.

People are doing it tough and so when they hear politicians talk about these targets in the future … I think Peter Dutton use this to whip up fear.

Continue reading...

Australia’s unemployment rate dips to 4% as economy adds 40,000 new jobs

Posted on by

Jobless rate eases as employers shrug off rising costs to keep adding to their workforces

Australia’s unemployment rate eased last month as employers shrugged off rising costs including higher interest bills to keep adding to their workforces.

The jobless rate was 4% in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with economists’ predictions and was a slight drop from April’s 4.1%.

Continue reading...

Chalmers says Dutton’s budget reply lacks economic credibility – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Shorten and Dutton clash over reduced migration

Earlier this morning the NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, clashed over Dutton’s promise to reduce Australia’s migration intake in his budget reply speech last night.

Well, Bill, a couple of points. One is that we say that, in the first year, 40,000 homes will be freed up. That includes the numbers who would be bidding at auctions this weekend against Australian citizens.

If the government had have adopted our policy over a five-year period, you would free up 325,000 homes. So the number of people who are foreign citizens, who are buying houses in our country is low, but nonetheless it contributes to an overall shortage of housing in our country.

Continue reading...