Category Archives: Reserve Bank of Australia

Australia politics live: Qantas plays ‘hardball’ on workplace relations, Shorten says; Karen Andrews makes emotional speech on domestic violence

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Liberal MP Karen Andrews addressed the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in parliament. Follow all the day’s news

Independents to launch report on whistleblower protections

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has been arguing for more protections for whistleblowers for years. The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has proposed new laws to boost whistleblower protections, but there are still calls the law needs to go further.

Protecting Australia’s Whistleblowers: The Federal Roadmap draws on landmark research and synthesises three decades of reviews to outline a comprehensive, 12-step roadmap for better protecting and empowering whistleblowers.

Establishment of a whistleblower protection authority to oversee and enforce Australia’s whistleblower protections;

Upgraded whistleblower protections for Australian public servants in line with domestic and international best practice, including a positive duty to protect whistleblowers and steps to make it easier for whistleblowers to enforce their rights;

Consolidation and harmonisation of whistleblowing laws across the private sector in one new single law covering all non-public sector whistleblowers; and

Stronger, simpler protections for whistleblowers who make disclosures to the media and members of parliament.

The mortality ratios from Covid in Australia are quite similar to those estimated in other advanced nations. As a share of the population, fewer people died from Covid in Australia than in most other affluent nations. Yet among those who died, the same health inequalities can be seen in Australia as in other advanced countries.

What might have driven the socioeconomic disparities in Covid mortality? And why might many of those disparities have been largest in the Delta wave? As I have noted, disadvantaged people may be less able to work remotely, more reliant on public transport, and more likely to live in crowded households. Uptake of vaccination and antiviral treatments have varied across society as vaccines and treatment became increasingly available. Another factor is that successive Covid waves have had varying degrees of severity. A final factor is that in the years since Covid began, population immunity has steadily risen.”

Across all waves of the pandemic, deaths from Covid were highest among those aged 80‑89 years. The median age of those who died from Covid was 87.4 years for females and 83.6 years for males. Males had a higher number of registered Covid deaths than females. For every 100 female Covid deaths, there were 126 male Covid deaths. Around 3-quarters of all Covid deaths occurred in Victoria and New South Wales.

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Global shocks likely to drive more frequent interest rate changes, RBA says

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Central banks will need to adjust rates more often to respond to unpredictable levels of inflation, Philip Lowe says

Inflation is likely to become more volatile in the future as globalism retreats and climate shocks mount, requiring central banks to adjust interest rates more often, the Reserve Bank governor has said.

Philip Lowe, in a Committee for Economic Development of Australia speech in Melbourne on Tuesday, said the current spike in prices was soon expected to peak at around 8% before declining to “a little over 3%” by the end of 2024. Improving post-Covid supply chains, cheaper commodities and the effects of interest rate hikes – with more possible – would combine to rein in inflation.

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Interest rates to keep rising as RBA warns it will do ‘what is necessary’ to curb inflation

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Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says half percentage point increases to cash rate possible if economic conditions do not improve

Interest rates will be rising for the foreseeable future and the Reserve Bank of Australia will not hesitate in making higher increases than predicted if inflation does not begin to settle, the RBA governor, Philip Lowe, has warned.

Tuesday’s seventh interest rate hike saw the cash rate increase by the standard quarter of a percentage point, taking rates to a nine-year high of 2.85%, and Lowe said the RBA board would not hesitate to move to half percentage point increases if economic conditions didn’t improve.

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Reserve Bank ‘consulting’ with government on whether King Charles should be on $5 note

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RBA governor Philip Lowe says ‘monarch has been on at least one banknote since 1923’ but decision won’t be made until talks with Labor are complete

He’s on the throne but should he be on the fiver?

The Reserve Bank of Australia has begun consultations with the federal government to answer one of the burning questions following the death of Queen Elizabeth II – should King Charles III take her place on the $5 note?

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Australian borrowers hit again as RBA raises interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.85%

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Reserve Bank raises rates for seventh time in attempt to bring inflation under control

Borrowers have been slugged with a record seventh rate rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia in as many months, as the central bank tries to quell the nation’s strongest burst of inflation in 32 years.

The RBA on Tuesday lifted the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.85%, the highest since early May 2013. The increase was in line with most economists’ expectations.

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Treasurer says inflation ‘number one challenge’ – as it happened

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We’ve been bringing you some of the news about rain causing more flooding in NSW. Here are some visuals from Wagga Wagga in southern NSW and the Newell highway in the state’s central west.

Jacinta Allan avoids question of whether families returned from Syria would be welcome in Victoria

The first group of families the wives and children of Islamic State fighters arrived in Sydney over the weekend from Syria and are now living in the community in Sydney. Will Victoria accept returnees?

I was with the premier [Daniel Andrews] on Sunday at a at a media event… where the premier was asked this direct question and I’ll give to you the answer he gave on Sunday which is these are very sensitive security matters. They are primarily the province of the federal government, it would not be appropriate -

As a matter of principle, will you accept them [in] Victoria? Or have you asked for them not to come during the election campaign?

We’ve not, Patricia. There is a … As I think we’ve seen from the media reporting around this issue, this is a very careful matter. There is a very -

Sure, but as a matter of principle, do you think returning citizens – they’re Australian citizens – should be allowed to live in Victoria?

I would really direct you to the federal government and the federal … I think you would appreciate that this is not a simple yes or no proposition because there needs to be robust and careful assessments that are not undertaken by the Victorian government. They’re undertaken by the federal government and the federal Department of Home Affairs.

And if they do all the checks and balances, should they be welcome in Victoria?

Firstly it’d be entirely inappropriate to cut across that and secondly, I am in no position to run a commentary.

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Australia’s inflation rate hits 7.3%, the highest since 1990, heaping pressure on households

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Families and businesses feeling the pinch as soaring CPI ensures more interest rate rises to come

Australia’s inflation rate accelerated in the September quarter as energy prices soared, heaping pressure on households and businesses and ensuring more interest rate rises to come.

The consumer prices index (CPI) has risen 7.3% over the past year and increased by 1.8% in the July to September period, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had predicted annual CPI would quicken to 7% from the 6.1% pace reported in the previous quarter.

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Sydney’s property prices dropped 10% this year, with $450 a day lost from average home

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Decline comes as RBA documents indicate values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their February peak by end of 2024

Sydney’s property prices have fallen by more than 10% since their mid-February peak, shedding almost $450 a day in value on an average home, and leading other major markets lower, CoreLogic said.

The 10.1% decline for home values in the harbour city so far comes as documents from the Reserve Bank of Australia indicate average property values may sink as much as 20% nationally from their recent highs by the end of 2024. That decline would be the steepest since the 1980s if realised.

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Handwritten notes, door-knocking, recipes: real estate agents turn ‘desperate’ across Australia

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Amid falling house prices and interest rate rises, agents are turning to increasingly frenzied measures to hunt for sellers

The first time Neha Samar received a handwritten note in her letterbox asking if she would be willing to sell her home, she threw it in the bin and forgot about it. The third time she received a similar note, it felt “creepy”.

Samar has lived in her Shepparton property, north-east of Melbourne, since 2018, but this is the first year real estate agents have come knocking.

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Banks raise interest rates in response to RBA – as it happened

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Australian dollar drops and shares bounce higher on reserve bank’s dovish move. This blog is now closed

Sexual violence rife on dating apps

Dating apps need to better protect their users after a study revealed high rates of sexual violence, stalking, assault and unwanted sharing of explicit images, AAP reports.

This is highly concerning given the significant and potentially long-term impacts associated with these victimisation experiences.

These impacts include poorer health and wellbeing, including overall life satisfaction, social isolation and lower self-esteem, as well as increased risk of re-victimisation.

Considering the long- and short-term implications for victim-survivors after experiencing these harmful behaviours, there is an obvious need to develop mechanisms for protecting users.

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Property prices dropped further in September and falls ‘could accelerate’ again with rate rise

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Investors and banks predict RBA will raise cash rate further on Tuesday, while rent increases begin to slow around Australia

Australia’s property prices fell another 1.4% in September as the cost of borrowing increased, and another interest rate rise is likely after Tuesday’s Reserve Bank meeting.

Last month’s drop in CoreLogic’s home value index was less than the 1.6% fall in August but the pace of declines could quicken again if the RBA’s key interest rate keeps rising, said Tim Lawless, the data group’s research director.

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BoM forecasts wetter-than-average summer for eastern states – as it happened

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Hearing that house prices are going down but looking around and seeing they are still astronomical?

Grogs explains why – yup, house prices are falling, but they are coming from eye-watering heights.

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RBA governor says at least two more interest rate rises needed to combat ‘scourge’ of inflation

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Philip Lowe has admitted ‘the magnitude of the pickup in inflation has come as a surprise to everyone’

The Reserve Bank will need to lift the official interest rate at least twice more to ensure the “scourge” of inflation is contained, with the pace and size of increases determined in part by how fast wages pick up, the bank’s governor, Philip Lowe, has warned.

In a speech on Thursday, Lowe admitted the pace of inflation had caught the RBA and other central banks flatfooted. They had no choice but to lift the cost of borrowing to stop an “inflation psychology” from taking hold.

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Federal Icac legislation to be introduced to parliament next week – as it happened

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Gallagher says Labor has not changed position on tax cuts

And on the stage three tax cuts, Katy Gallagher echoed the line the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, started last week and continued yesterday – which is effectively Labor playing dead on the $243bn cuts:

I have been asked this a number of times. You know, we haven’t changed our view on stage three. They don’t come in until 2024.

My sole focus at the moment is putting a budget together for October and what we can do in the short-term to relieve pressure on families. That is what I’m focused on everyday.

Well, the budget we inherited was heaving with a trillion dollars of Liberal party debt. We got deficits as far as the eye can see.

We got some programs that weren’t funded in an ongoing sense that clearly are programs that need ongoing funding.

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SES and Resilience NSW ‘failed’ to lead flood response, inquiry finds – as it happened

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New threatened species listings include south-eastern glossy black-cockatoo

Two Australian species that were badly affected by the 2019-20 black summer bushfires have been officially listed as threatened.

The damage caused by the black summer bushfires is still being felt today and can be seen reflected in these listings today.

The fires had an immense impact on our environment, from a small reptile found in the mountains to a bird that is at home on the coast. There is still a lot of work to do.

It seems as though these positions are being offered around almost like lolly bags to senior members of the New South Wales government rather than what they’re intended to be, which is senior positions funded by the taxpayer. We shouldn’t operate like that in New South Wales. We’re slowly but surely finding out the contours of what is an absolute scandal.

There’s many questions to be asked. At the end of the day we’re expected to believe of the 8 million people who live in New South Wales, John Barilaro was independently chosen to represent our interests. I think that ... stretches credibility.

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Australia’s official interest rates expected to rise by half-percentage point, economists say

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Experts predict RBA will lift cash rate from to 1.85%, marking a 175-basis point increase since May

Australia’s official interest rates are all but certain to be lifted on Tuesday with the expected half-percentage point increase marking the Reserve Bank’s sharpest tightening phase since 1994.

A survey by Bloomberg News found 28 of 30 respondents predict the RBA board will lift the cash rate from 1.35% to 1.85% at its monthly meeting. That move would mark a 175-basis point increase in the rate since it began hiking in May.

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Australian property prices tumble at rates not seen since GFC

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Interest rate rises lead to dwelling values falling for third month in a row with Sydney prices down 5.2% since January

Australia’s property prices are falling at rates comparable to the onset of the global financial crisis or the 1980s downturn as higher interest rates deflate demand. Sydney’s drop, though, is already more precipitous than those earlier eras.

In July alone, dwelling values fell 1.3% on average nationally, marking a third consecutive monthly decline according to CoreLogic, a property data firm. Five of the nation’s eight capitals reported falls, with Sydney down 2.2% and Melbourne retreating 1.5% while prices in Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart were also starting to slide.

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Despite Australia’s soaring inflation rate, some economists say the peak may be ‘coming into view’

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Analysis: Inflation optimists look to falling global supply chain pressures but spiking energy prices suggest we haven’t reached a plateau yet

Some economists have tipped that the inflation rate has started to plateau, even after the Australian consumer price index on Wednesday showed the fastest annual pace of inflation since 2001.

Australian prices rose 6.1% in the June quarter, the quickest pace in 21 years. Yet even in that dire news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, some economists were able to spy a silver lining.

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Government ‘recognises concern’ over monkeypox with 44 cases recorded – as it happened

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Labor wants consensus between business and unions – Burke

Burke says “everything is on the table” including the potential for fixed enterprise bargaining. He also says that the government would like to seek consensus between business and union groups if it can. Asked specifically about a deal struck between the ACTU and the Business Council last year, Burke says he doesn’t know whether that is possible now but he’d be interested in exploring it.

If I can find agreements where there’s consensus I don’t know whether the consensus of that agreement of a couple of years ago still existed in identical form, but if a consensus like that turns up at the job summit you could work on the basis I will be inclined to grab it, because that did have safeguards around it to prevent workers from in fact going backwards.

When you don’t have an energy policy for a decade that’s inflationary. When you have a skills crisis and refuse to invest in skills, that’s inflationary. So in establishing the first bill will be dealing with in the Parliament will be jobs and Skills Australia, we have already had Chris Bowen taking action in terms of making sure we are dealing with the energy crisis. But none of this turns around straight away.

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Australia news live updates: Greens aim to ‘improve and pass’ Labor climate bill; Andrews rules out mask mandates as nation records 90 Covid deaths;

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No change in Operation Sovereign Borders policy

Clare O’Neil is asked about the desperate situation in Sri Lanka, where many people are trying to find a way out.

Operation Sovereign Borders is Australian government policy.

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