What we learned, Tuesday 18 February
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening.
Here were today’s major developments, leading with the RBA’s long anticipated decision to cut interest rates.
The Reserve Bank has announced a quarter-point reduction in the cash rate to 4.1% for the first time since 2020. All four major banks have passed on rate cut to borrowers, the treasurer confirmed.
Don’t get too excited, though. Governor of the reserve bank, Michelle Bullock, said the RBA needed “more evidence” of declining inflation for another rate cut.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has announced it will investigate the six individuals referred to the body after the robodebt royal commission, after an independent review.
The competition watchdog has proposed to authorise a partnership between Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways that will effectively double the amount of flights the Doha-based carrier operates to Australia.
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has cautioned about Russian misinformation and Moscow’s “propensity to provide us with incorrect information”, when asked about the video which emerged overnight of Australian man Oscar Jenkins who was captured while fighting in Ukraine.
And Gerald Ridsdale, a paedophile priest convicted of abusing more than 70 children over three decades, has died in prison aged 90.
Updated
Influencer sent footage of nurses making anti-Israel threats to police
The Israeli influencer who released footage of two nurses allegedly making anti-Israel threats has said on social media he delivered the full unedited version of the footage.
Speaking on TikTok, Max Veifer said:
Yesterday, I spoke with the NSW police again. Since this is an ongoing investigation, I can’t share details, but I’m confident they have enough evidence, including my uncut video.
The two nurses have since been stood down and police are investigating.
No one has been charged in relation to the incident.
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Brisbane bus drivers plan strike on Thursday morning
Brisbane’s bus drivers are planning to strike this week, with the union blaming a breakdown in negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
Drivers will take industrial action on Thursday morning from 4 until 6 at depots across Brisbane.
The strike only applies to the Brisbane city council bus system, not other councils in South East Queensland. About 436 routes will be affected, according to the council.
Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Tom Brown said the agreement between drivers and the city council expired on 7 October, but there is still no agreement four months later.
“We have attended every EBA meeting and bargained in good faith but cannot get a decent pay offer from the council. That is why our members are angry and demanding back pay,” he said.
Brown said the council’s only offer “has been well below inflation and doesn’t go close to helping with cost of living pressures”.
Brisbane city council transport chair, Ryan Murphy, said the council had made a “fair and reasonable pay offer on the table” which is about inflation, of 7% over two years.
We have to make sure we strike a balance by delivering the services our city needs while keeping costs down for every Brisbane resident,” he said.
Brown said drive had taken “low-level industrial action for some time” such as working to rule and wearing casual clothes.
He said the stoppage will cause “minor delays” for passengers riding first thing in the morning but won’t affect school runs.
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Allan accuses Coalition of prejudice against LBTIQA+ Victorians
Kilkenny’s statement follows a speech by the premier, Jacinta Allan, in parliament during debate on the bill in the Legislative Assembly.
Allan said:
I fear that we could amend this bill 1,000 ways and they will oppose it 1,000 times. It is now clear to me they don’t oppose this bill because of the political defence, they don’t oppose it because of the subjective test – they oppose it because it offers equal protection to LBTIQA+ Victorians.
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Major parties divided over Victorian anti-vilification legislation
The Victorian attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, has released a statement lashing the Coalition for opposing the government’s anti-vilification legislation.
As we brought to you earlier, the Labor government has announced changes to the bill to remove the “political purpose” defence that was opposed by the Coalition and Jewish community groups.
But the shadow attorney general, Michael O’Brien, told reporters the Coalition still won’t support the bill, citing concerns with the “subjective” legal test that it uses to determine whether hate speech constituted a civil offence.
Kilkenny accused the opposition of “invent[ing] another reason to oppose” the bill. She said:
Today the Liberals are exposed, and it’s time for these gutless wonders to admit the truth. They don’t oppose the bill because of a political purpose defence or a subjective test. They oppose the bill because it extends equal protection to LGBTQIA+ people. And the hard-right wing of the Liberal Party who control Brad Battin won’t allow that.
She said the bill “delivers tougher new laws to crack down on people who want to whip up racism and hate against their fellow Victorians” and had a “wide range of support”, including in the Jewish community “who have asked for new tools to fight the cancer of antisemitism”.
Kilkenny said:
The Liberals will have a choice when this bill arrives in the Legislative Council. They can stand against antisemitism, racism and hate, pass these tough new laws and help protect all Victorians. Or they can side with the hard-right of their party who are on a crusade to sink them.
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Gun discharged in Sydney’s south
An investigation is under way after an alleged public place shooting in south Sydney today.
About 3.10pm, officers were called to The Boulevarde, Brighton Le Sands, after reports of a shooting.
Police were told an Audi SUV turned into the Boulevarde from The Grand Parade when an unknown occupant of the car allegedly discharged a firearm in the direction of three men, who were standing close to a parked vehicle.
The three men and the Audi left the scene. There have been no reports of injuries.
Police found three vehicles with bullet holes and a nearby building also received damage.
A crime scene has been established and The Boulevarde remains closed between The Grand Parade and Trafalgar Street.
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Lithium-ion battery the cause of Sydney house fire, FRNSW says
Dangerous lithium-ion batteries have claimed another victim, with a charging e-bike behind a fatal house fire, AAP reports.
Authorities responded to a fire at Guildford, in Sydney’s west, on Tuesday morning and found a man trapped inside a burning room. However, he could not be revived after being extracted.
Five other people had evacuated the home before firefighters arrived, with one taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
Fire and Rescue NSW determined the blaze started due to an incompatible charger powering an e-bike battery, believing the battery overheated because it could not absorb the generated power.
Little more than a week ago, the FRNSW commissioner, Jeremy Fewtrell, warned more lithium-ion-powered deaths would be possible if people continued to overcharge their batteries and leave them absorbing juice overnight.
NSW had 318 lithium-ion battery fires in 2024, up from 165 two years earlier.
In NSW, mandatory testing and certification will take effect by August, while mandatory labelling is slated to start by February 2026.
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Bandt on losing Prahran byelection to Liberals
Bandt was also pointed to the upcoming election, after the Greens’ failure to retain the seat of Prahran in a byelection this month.
The seat went to Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway with a two-candidate-preferred vote swing of 13.6% against the Greens.
Bandt said the Greens’ primary vote held up at the byelection, winning “basically … the same vote as the Liberals”. He said the difference was a former Labor MP ran against the Greens, making a difference in the final result.
I look back over the last year, we saw more MPs elected to the Tasmanian parliament than before, the first MP elected in the Northern Territory and the Queensland election, the Queensland government decided to preference Labor.
We are campaigning hard in seats across the country but in Melbourne, in McNamara, seats like Richmond, we are campaigning strongly as well, those inner-city Brisbane seats …
Over the course of the last parliament we worked cooperatively with the government and got significant reforms through around climate legislation, protected water by changing our environment laws when the government was not being spooked by the miners … we have managed to get pretty significant and good reforms through, $3bn for public and community housing we achieved that was never on the table before.
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Greens say rate cut is too little, too late
The Greens have labelled today’s interest rate cut too little, too late, particularly amid warnings from the Reserve Bank governor that the public shouldn’t expect further cuts.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today it wasn’t a “bad thing” for the unemployment rate to remain low and for people to find work:
Somehow in the Reserve Bank ‘s calculus, that might stop them cutting [rates] further or lifting them higher. I think this shows the problems with the government giving all the heavy lifting to the Reserve Bank and not tackling the causes of inflation, things like the price cutting of supermarkets, soaring rent increases, these are all things that the government could get its hands on that would actually make a big difference and help in the fight against inflation.
Pointed to comments from Michele Bullock that the RBA doesn’t want to take unnecessary risks, Bandt said that didn’t change the fact there were things the government could do – including addressing housing costs and regulating rents, or making price gouging illegal.
I would like to see the big banks now match what the Reserve Bank has done and go further and cut it by another zero. The big banks have been making billions of dollars of profit out of people’s pain. Rates went up higher than the Reserve Bank lifted them a couple of years ago. Surely they could afford to cut a bit more now.
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Equality Australia accuses NSW of ‘cruelty’ for overlooking LBGTQI+ in hate speech laws
Equality Australia has accused the NSW government of “cruelly” overlooking the LGBTQI+ community in hate speech laws that were introduced today and are aimed at curbing antisemitism.
Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said:
Hatred of any kind, whether racially motivated or otherwise, should have no place in our society and it’s bitterly disappointing that LGBTIQ+ people have been cruelly overlooked in this bill.
Queer communities have long histories of abuse, bashings and harassment, and we know very well what it’s like to fear for our safety.
Earlier today, the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, announced the government would undertake a 6-month review to determine if hate speech laws should be extended to other vulnerable groups such as the LBTGQI+ community.
It came after the government faced backlash from the Greens and Sydney MP Alex Greenwich for restricting the draft laws to race only and excluding the LGBTQI+ community.
Brown said she welcomed the review, but “only if it leads to widening the protections to cover every vulnerable minority in NSW”. Brown added:
It’s simply a matter of fairness and basic humanity to make sure the law protects all communities that are being targeted by hate.
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PM says RBA has delivered the ‘rate relief Australians need and deserve’
The prime minister is doing the radio rounds after Tuesday’s interest rate cut.
Speaking on Sydney’s 2GB, Anthony Albanese again danced around the question of whether he would call the federal election rather than hand down the budget as scheduled on 25 March.
We are preparing a budget …. There will certainly be a budget this year.
Echoing his treasurers’ comments from earlier this afternoon, Albanese said the RBA had delivered the “rate relief that Australians need and deserve”.
The prime minister accepted households were suffering but insisted Australia had weathered the “global phenomenon” of high inflation better than anyone.
I understand that people are doing it tough. That is why we have acted, that is why we have brought inflation down. That hasn’t happened by accident.
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Taylor is specifically asked if he believes we can keep unemployment at the level of 4.25% while holding inflation within the RBA’s target band.
What is your view? Do people have to lose their jobs?
He says the key is to “get demand in balance”.
What we have seen here is if you want to get interest rates and inflation down you need a balance of supply and demand. What is the key to that? Making sure that government isn’t unduly boosting demand.
We’ve seen households doing the work. This point was made in a statement from the RBA today that we have seen very strong public demand but very weak private demand. To translate that into commonsense language, what that means that it is households that have been tightening their belts. Government hasn’t tightened its belt and the result is Australians are paid a high price for that.
‘It is a long way back from here’: Taylor on inflation
The treasurer said the worst of inflation was behind us when addressing the media earlier. Did Taylor not agree with that assessment?
He said there was “no expectation” prices were coming down and core inflation remained above the target range.
We have seen Michele Bullock cautious and hawkish in her comments. It is a long way back from here. Prices are not coming down, they are continuing to rise. The question is at what pace.
Meanwhile, Australia is leading the world on low unemployment. Is that not an important metric?
Taylor says it is a “worthy objective” but “so too is maintaining people’s living standards and increasing their living standards”.
Pointed to the fact your living standards collapse if you don’t have a job, he replies: “Of course”.
Updated
‘Living standards have collapsed in an unprecedented way’: Angus Taylor
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, who is not dancing around the room with glee despite an interest rate cut today, appeared on ABC Afternoon Briefing earlier to discuss the RBA’s decision.
Asked if today was a “great day” for Australians who had a mortgage, he described it in the terms of “welcome relief”.
The fact of the matter is Australians have been suffering under elevated inflation, high interest rates for an extended period of time now … we’ve seen interest rate cuts elsewhere in the world.
Australia has been at the back of the pack in bringing core inflation down … I should say that also within what the Reserve Bank put out today was an important forecast … it is going to be a long way back. Living standards have collapsed in an unprecedented way in Australia, more than at any other time in our history, and further downgrades in living standards came out in the Reserve Bank’s forecasts.
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MP Greenwich calls for clarification of tough new protest laws
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has called on the NSW government to confirm protests carried out against places of worship by survivors of clergy abuse will not be caught up in tough new laws.
The proposed laws – aimed at stemming antisemitism – include expanding police powers to block protests that take place near places of worship regardless of what is being protested, and creating an aggravated offence for graffiti on a place of worship.
Speaking during a debate on the draft laws, Greenwich singled out forms of protest undertaken by clergy abuse survivors as needing to be exempt from the graffiti offence. He said:
I’m concerned that the graffiti offence must not capture some forms of protest, such as tone ribbons to the fences of churches, an important public act undertaken by victims of institutionalised child sex abuse, and I ask the attorney general to clarify that such acts of protest would not be captured.
Last week, Donald McLeish – a spokesperson for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) – expressed similar concerns, but directed those concerns also at the government’s move to give police broad police to restrict protest outside places of worship.
Imagine trying to fight for justice against your abuser and on the other side is the Catholic church. This huge power imbalance needs to be supported by public pressure, and that needs protest.
An essential role of Snap is exposing predators who threaten children and adults at risk and, to expose those who shield predators. This is generally achieved through quiet and peaceful protests including ribbon tying outside places of worship. It looks like this wouldn’t be able to occur under the new NSW laws because it could be seen as intimidation or harassment which certainly is not.
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NSW police finalise statement as part of alleged antisemitic video probe
NSW police are finalising a statement with Israeli influencer Max Veifer as part of the force’s investigation into an alleged antisemitic video, shared to his social media accounts.
Police said the statement was being finalised to ensure it “meets Australian legal standards to be admissible in court”:
As the influencer is in Israel and the video believed to be created in Israel, police need to manage the complexities involved in gathering and producing evidence from an overseas jurisdiction to meet Australian legal requirements for the evidence to be admissible in Australian Courts.
Detectives remain focused on resolving the investigation as swiftly as possible.
No charges have been laid over the video.
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You can circle back to the Reserve Bank of Australia chief, Michelle Bullock, below. Addressing the media this afternoon, Bullock warned today’s interest rate decision didn’t imply further cuts were on the way.
PM says RBA rate cut won’t impact timing of election
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the federal government is working on a budget but wouldn’t reveal whether it would actually be delivered amid speculation an election could be called imminently.
Speaking with ABC Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister was pressed on whether today’s news of a rate cut would bring forward the 2025 federal election.
Albanese said:
No, this won’t have an impact on the timing of the election. We’ve been really working hard. We’ve been working hard, and we’ve been preparing, we’ve prepared a mid-year economic forecast in December, we’ve been working on the budget, and the ERC - expenditure review committee - met for many, many hours yesterday and again this morning.
Asked again if it will happen next month, Albanese responded: “That’s the plan.”
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MP Alex Greenwich welcomes review of hate speech laws
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has welcomed the NSW government’s announcement it will undertake a review to determine if hate speech laws should be extended to “protect all vulnerable communities”.
Greenwich said:
The horrific rise in antisemitism across Sydney has resulted in the NSW Government taking strong action to protect Jewish people from hate crimes.
It’s important our laws protect all vulnerable communities. We are sadly seeing an increase in the incitement of hate against other groups. I welcome the government’s announced six-month review into hate laws and will work with the government and stakeholders to ensure we protect all groups under threat, including the LGBTQ community, people with a disability, and religious communities.
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NSW to review hate speech laws
The NSW government will undertake a review to consider whether hate speech laws should be extended to other vulnerable groups such as people targeted for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, announced the 6-month review before introducing to parliament controversial new aimed at stemming antisemitism that would criminalise intentionally inciting hatred on the grounds of race.
The government had come under fire from the Greens and Sydney MP Alex Greenwich for restricting the draft laws to race only and excluding the LGBTQI+ community.
The laws have also drawn fierce backlash from civil liberty groups who have argued the government is attempting to “arrest” its way to social cohesion and is ignoring its own review which recommended against criminalising hate speech.
Daley told parliament that the laws introduced today do not preclude the government from introducing further legislation to protect other groups. He also thanked Greenwich for his “always watchful interactions with the government”.
Daley said:
Our government acknowledges that hate speech based on other attributes… including religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, occurs and condemns it. We will continue to look at how laws in New South Wales can be improved to address hate speech based on other attributes.
We recognise that there are further issues to work through in this space, but our government must respond to the immediate and pressing issue of racially based hate speech that faces our community.
If the hate speech laws introduced today pass, those found to have made racist remarks which incite hatred could spend up to two years in jail or cop a fine of over $10,000.
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City of Sydney passes motion to not engage with companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements
The City of Sydney has no business with companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, counsellors acknowledged in a motion passed last night.
In June last year, the Sydney mayor, Clover Moore, backed a Greens motion for the council to prepare a report on their investment policy regarding “companies involved in, or profiting from, any human rights violations including the illegal occupation of the settlements in Palestinian territories and the supply of weapons”.
The report, delivered last week, reviewed all of the city’s existing financial investments and contractual relationships against a UNHCR register of companies involved in “activities that raise particular human rights violations concerns” and found no contractural relationships with entities on the register.
A motion voted on last night notes this, as well as the city’s “strong policies” that “ensure our investment and procurement practices avoid supporting socially harmful activities, including abuse of human rights”. It also “unequivocally condemns the alarming rise in Antisemitic, Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian attacks”. The motion passed almost unanimously, with nine votes to one.
“Some say that Council has no place to speak on issues beyond our direct control,” Moore said.
But I say it is our job as elected representatives to support and consider and speak out about the concerns of our communities.
Greens councillor Matthew Thompson said:
This is a crucial first step in ensuring our community is not complicit in funding human rights abuses against Palestinians, and we hope it will inspire others to follow.
This brings our practices in line with our values, ensuring we won’t use Council funds to pay corporations who profit from the horrors of the illegal settlements.
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Tight labour market the strongest argument against rate cuts: Bullock
Finally, Bullock is asked by Guardian Australia’s Jonathan Barrett what the strongest argument against cutting interest rates was, and how much credence she gave it.
She says it was based on uncertainty around the labour market.
We have a view that the labour market is tight and also that it has tightened recently. One of the stronger arguments, I think, on the side of not doing anything, was caution, let’s wait for more data to see what is exactly happening to the labour market.
Is it feeding through to wages pressure and inflation? … that is probably the strongest argument … we did talk about the fact that it doesn’t seem to align with what we might have expected to happen so we are continuing to challenge ourselves on that and canoeing to engage with others outside the organisation who have different views to us because I think it is worth really checking ourselves on this …
If we can have a tight labour market but it doesn’t feed through to inflation and wages, then it is a positive. That is the $1m question.
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RBA decision to cut rate unanimous: Bullock
Today’s decision was a unanimous consensus, Bullock confirms.
Asked if another rate cut by July is unrealistic, she declines to answer.
We want to see more information on inflation and the labour market … We do think we are restrictive but as we said earlier, we didn’t go as high as other countries so we’re probably not as restrictive some other countries have been so we are trying to balance here, that is the narrow path.
I haven’t mentioned that term yet but there you go, the narrow path and I just think as you get further out, the forecast gets so uncertain and I think my point would probably be that the markets probably got more confidence than I do that that path is what is going to deliver us sustainably back to the middle of the band. I don’t have that confidence yet.
Updated
You can have a look at the treasurer, Jim Chalmers’ address on the rate cut here:
Inflation ‘hurting everyone’, not just mortgage holders: Bullock
Millions of mortgage holders are “struggling to make ends meet”, Bullock is told, and struggling to meet repayments. What can she tell these people?
I want to come back to the point I was emphasising earlier, we focus a lot on mortgage holders, and yes, they’re hurting because interest rates have risen so much from the emergency lows during the pandemic. But the fact that prices have gone up by 18% over the last couple of years is hurting them, it’s hurting all of the renters, it’s hurting all the low income people, it’s hurting everyone. It’s really essentially we get that under control.
And that will mean that we can return to more normal levels of interest rates. I don’t know what they are. But what I can say is they won’t be the levels of interest rates they were during the pandemic. They were emergency low interest rates. They will be above that. How much below where they are now, I couldn’t tell you. It will all depend on the success in getting inflation down.
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RBA would have raised rates if needed: Bullock
Reserve Bank governor says if the board thought it would have needed to raise rates further, “it would have”.
It raised the rate to offset some upside risks. If it thought it needed to go further, it would have. It didn’t. It felt the best way to achieve the strategy of bringing inflation down and keeping employment was to keep rates where they were for an extended period, which we did.
We kept them there from November 23 till now. I think now is the right time to unwind that increase. We still are restrictive. We still think we’re in restrictive territory and that will continue to keep a bit of pressure on inflation.
The forecast has inflation flatlining at 2.7% through to 2027, with the official target sitting at 2.5%. Asked if that was still the RBA’s goal, Bullock says 2.7% is predicted on a market path which sees three more cuts.
If we really want to hit 2.5, which we do, then that market path on the basis of the information we have at the moment is unrealistic. Have we abandoned 2.5? No, because we haven’t. Our target is 2-3%. The best way is to target the middle of the band.
If we target the top or the bottom, the likelihood is we flop outside the band.
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RBA ‘very uncertain’ about demand-supply gap: Bullock
As Bullock said earlier, today’s interest rate cut doesn’t imply more relief is coming. So what conditions would need to be in place for another cut?
She says the board is worried about “upside risks” that need to abate.
We would need to see easing wage costs, growth in wages, we need to continue to see that. We need to continue to see the disinflation in market services in particular, we want to see the reduction in housing inflation - we’ve seen it’s sustainable and it’s continuing to come down. Because that’s been a very big component of the rise in inflation over the last couple of years.
And I think also what we need to see is a general easing – we don’t know what the demand-supply gap is here. We’re very uncertain about it. We set out in the statement on monetary policy, we thought that demand was above supply, but we’re a bit uncertain now if that’s still the case. It would be really good to see some recovery in supply, on the supply side of the economy. And obviously productivity is an important part of that as well.
Asked if the RBA’s “experiment” has been successful, Bullock says it’s a bit early to say.
But as I said, the signs so far are positive. We have got inflation coming down, we’ve got, in our forecasts … the trimmed mean being back in the band in the first half of next year, that’s on the basis of the current path of interest rates cuts. But, have we not been tight enough? And will inflation will take off again? I think that remains to be seen. It’s a risk the board is alert to.
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Bullock is asked if the economy can sustain unemployment levels at 4.25% to hold inflation within the RBA’s target band.
She replies there’s been a lot of debate in the market about what level of unemployment is consistent with low and stable inflation.
At the moment we’re a little surprised because we have seen inflation continuing to come down at the same time as we judge the labour market is still a bit tight.
But there’s things that are happening. We see housing costs are starting to decline, which is good, that’s a big part of people’s expenses … business margins are squeezed a bit, that suggests that demand is not strong enough for them to pass on these things … we’re not pinning our numbers on it … but we are continuing to test how low we can keep unemployment without adding to inflationary pressures and so far, in good news, we’re achieving it. But, there are risks. We’ve got to be careful.
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Market is expecting three more cuts to mid next year: Bullock
Bullock is asked what the chances are that today’s rate cut is “one and done”, and may be the only one Australians see in the for-seeable future.
“I couldn’t say,” she replies.
What I would say is that the market is expecting quite a few more interest rate cuts. To the middle of next year, about three more on top of this.
Whether or not that eventuates will tend very much on the data. Our feeling at the moment is that’s far too confident. I can’t say one and done. We have done one, we have removed a bit of restrictiveness, we’re still restrictive, and we’re waiting for more evidence we’re getting inflation sustainably back in the band before we’re willing to move again.
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On to questions.
Bullock is asked how “line ball” the decision was to cut interest rates, despite certainty in the markets that it was a done deal.
She says it was a “difficult decision”, in the sense there were arguments for and against.
The board had an active debate on the arguments on both sides on this, but in the end, came to the view the better decision was to … still maintain some restrictiveness, but ease a little bit of restrictiveness in recognition we’re making progress towards our goal.
I understand many households will be relieved by this. But the important point I made before is that it’s really important we beat inflation. Because that hurts absolutely everyone.
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RBA needs ‘more evidence’ of declining inflation for another rate cut: Bullock
Today’s decision “does not imply” further rate cuts are coming, Bullock says.
She says the board needs “more evidence” inflation is continuing to decline before making decisions about the future path of interest rates.
The board is very alert to upside risks that could derail the deflationary process. I know some other central banks have cut interest rates quite sharply over the past year, but we have taken a different strategy to most.
Our policy rate was not raised as much, as many countries overseas, we judged that while inflation expectations remained anchored, we could take a bit longer to bring it down to the target band, but keep unemployment lower.
Cost of living pressures are still front of mind for many Australians. The board is conscious that households with mortgages had to adjust following interest rate increases since the pandemic. And the impact of high inflation over the past couple of years has permanently increased the price of goods and services. That’s hurt everyone, but particularly those on lower incomes and the more vulnerable. The board will continue to look to the data to see if the economy and inflation continue to evolve as expected.
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RBA ‘cannot declare victory on inflation just yet’: Bullock
Bullock says the board judges it’s time to “reduce a little bit of that restrictiveness,” but the RBA cannot “declare victory on inflation just yet”.
It’s not good enough for it to be back in the target range temporarily, the board needs to be confident it’s returning to the target range sustainably.
One of the big questions we’re grappling with now that inflation is easing is how the labour market is reacting. The board’s strategy is to bring inflation down while keeping the gains in the labour market. The strength of the jobs market has been surprising. Many indicators suggest the labour market is tight, and on some measures, tightening further. While this is good news for job seekers, the board remains alert to the possibility that it is signalling a bit more strength in the economy, that could delay or stall the disinflation process.
There’s also a lot of uncertainty around the global outlook at the moment, one of the things we’re cautious about is the possibility that policy unpredictability could lead to slower growth.
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Press conferences keep on rolling in.
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, is addressing the media following the RBA’s decision to cut interest rates.
She reiterates the board decided to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.1%.
The cash rate has been at 4.35% since November 2023. At that time, in November 23, the upside risks to inflation had increased, so the board decided to raise the cash rate to 4.35% from 4.1%. To address those upside risks.
Since then, inflation has fallen. And recent data suggests it’s eased a bit more than expected. Growth in private demand has also been quite weak, and wage pressures have eased. The board therefore judged it was appropriate to remove the cautionary raise under taken in 2023. I have said many times that we need to see inflation moving sustainably towards our 2-3% target band before we eased rates.
In December, we said we gained confidence that things were headed in the right direction. Now we’re at a point where underlying inflation is at 3.2%, and headline inflation is 2.4%. Inflation has eased over the past three quarters, and in the most recent quarter, a bit more than our forecasts had anticipated. This has increased our confidence further. It’s clear that higher interest rates have been working as anticipated, restricting economic activity, and putting downward pressure on inflation.
We’ve seen the ‘biggest collapse in living standards in our history’: Taylor
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is also holding a press conference regarding the RBA decision, calling it a “long time coming”. He is not particularly excited.
We’ve seen interest rate cuts in countries around the world of between 1 and 2%, in countries including Canada, the US, Europe, New Zealand … and Australians have been suffering in the meantime with high interest rates … a typical Australian household has paid an extra $50,000 in the interest rates than they had expected to pay.
Despite the welcome cut today, it’s a long journey back to the standard of living Australians had when these interest rates increases began. We’ve seen 12 interest rate increases under Labor, and one down now, but we’ve also seen the biggest collapse in living standards in our history. It has been completely unprecedented, and unparalleled, relative to other peer countries around the world … and indeed, in the forecast today from the Reserve Bank, there is a downgrade in living standard forecasts, despite the interest rate cut.
The Reserve Bank is expecting that living standards will be worse than in their previous forecasts and this is more pain for Australian families, the journey is far from over here.
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Global economy in a ‘pretty dangerous place right now’: Chalmers
Chalmers also flagged he would be “very, very surprised” if the government couldn’t make a decision on Virgin and Qatar’s deal before the election, adding he was yet to receive advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Speaking of global deals, he also pointed to “geopolitical uncertainty” around the world, including Donald Trump.
We made it clear for some time there’s a lot of global economic uncertainty. We’ve seen that more or less as a permanent feature of the last 15 years or so. Now when it comes to those concerns, they’re focused on the risks of escalating trade tensions … we’ve been monitoring those risks very closely. We did a heap of work before the change of administration in the US … because when you look around the world, there’s the risk of escalating trade tensions, there’s still a major land war in eastern Europe, there’s the tentative ceasefire in the Middle East, there’s been pretty serious political upheaval in places like Korea, to some extent, France.
And so, the global economy is a pretty uncertain and pretty dangerous place right now … the risk is higher inflation and lower growth around the world. At a time when growth has not been especially think on the ground and inflation has been a feature of the last two or three years.
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Chalmers defends claim that households would be $7,200 worse off under Coalition
Chalmers is asked about an AAP fact check into claims from Labor that Australian households would be $7,200 worse off under the Coalition.
The fact check said the calculations were flawed because they weren’t adjusted for inflation, and the assumption about the pace of wage growth is unrealistic. How can Australians believe the claims you put forward about being worse off?
Chalmers said the fact check contrasted wage growth under the Coalition and wage growth occurring in the economy now, before pointing to Peter Dutton.
Dutton … opposed our cost of living help and the record of the Coalition in office was much lower wages. Not accidentally, but as a deliberate design feature of their economic policy.
So we are well within our rights to point out that the biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 would be a Coalition government led by Peter Dutton …
I have been very careful and deliberately so, in not applying a political lens to the decision taken by the independent Reserve Bank today. Today’s decision was about economics, not politics. The only … senior person who tried to inject a political lens to this, or a political angle to this, was Peter Dutton, last week he was making the case for higher rates and that’s for him to explain.
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‘Worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, but we’re not complacent about it’: Chalmers
Today’s decision is the end of a succession of rate increases.
Chalmers was asked if, in light of this, he was prepared to tell people “it will get better from here”.
He noted rates stopped rising in November 2023, a year-and-a-half gap since rates have increased.
I wouldn’t go near any of that sort of language. I think it’s clear from the inflation data and the decision taken today the worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, but we’re not complacent about it.
In that case, would he commit in the budget to additional cost of living relief?
Chalmers said his focus was on rolling out “the very responsible but very substantial cost-of-living help we have already budgeted for”.
Tax cuts, energy bill relief, cheaper early childhood education, cheaper medicines, fee-free TAFE, rent assistance, getting wages moving again. These are all rolling out in our economy right now … over a long period of time, from budget to budget, we see what we can responsibly do to help people with the cost of living, that’s been a feature of the first three budgets. And if we can afford it, it will be a feature of the fourth.
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Chalmers was also asked about the RBA’s central forecast for underlying inflation longer term, which has been revised up a little over 2026.
Is that on you? Because you’re not doing more to bring down that pressure on inflation?
The treasurer said the RBA had revised down its forecast in the near term and the further out you went, the more uncertain forecasts became.
We share the Reserve Bank’s concern about the uncertain global outlook … the world is an uncertain place and we see that reflected in the Reserve Bank’s statement today. Growth in our economy has been soft. People have been under substantial pressure and continue to be under pressure. And this decision today is partly a reflection of those two things, but it’s mostly a reflection of the very substantial and sustained progress we made together on inflation.
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Government still planning for a March budget
Asked if an election was expected to come sooner, and the 25 March budget would still go ahead given today’s decision, Chalmers said the government was still planning for a budget next month.
We’ve been in the cabinet suite next door for most of today and most of yesterday preparing for and planning for a budget on 25 March. That’s what we’re working towards. We acknowledge the timing of the election is a matter for the prime minister, in consultation with his senior colleagues.
But we’re working towards that budget. That’s why the ERC met for about four or five hours yesterday and another three or four hours this morning.
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All four major banks have passed on rate cut to borrowers: Jim Chalmers
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is addressing reporters after the central bank’s decision to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.1%.
Chalmers said it was “very welcome news” for millions of Australians, adding he had spoken to the Ceos of all four major banks this afternoon who have confirmed they will pass on the “full benefits” of the decision.
This is the rate relief that Australians need and deserve. Now, we know that it won’t fix any every challenge we have in our economy and household budgets, but it will help.
It’s a demonstration of the progress that Australians have made together in the fight against inflation. That progress that we have made has been substantial, it is now sustained, and it’s reflected in the decision taken by the Reserve Bank today.
Chalmers said under his government, “inflation is down, wages are up, unemployment is low, and now interest rates are falling as well”.
This is the soft landing that we’ve been planning for and preparing for, but we cannot be complacent about the months and years ahead. We know that there’s more work to do … today’s decision, and the statement from the board, gives us more confidence that the worst of the inflation challenge is behind us.
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Many thanks for joining me on the blog today. Stay tuned – RBA governor Michele Bullock is expected to give a press conference in about half an hour’s time.
Caitlin Cassidy will be here to bring you that, along with the rest of our rolling coverage this afternoon. Take care.
Greg Jericho says rate cut ‘long overdue’ but ‘better late than never’
Greg Jericho, chief economist at the Australia Institute, has welcomed today’s rate cut as a “small but necessary drop that has been long overdue” but “better late than never”.
He called on the RBA to cut rates again in April, even if the country is days out from a federal election:
To suggest there should be no cut in April because it would appear political is absurd.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers constantly reminds us the Reserve Bank is independent of government. A rate cut in April would have nothing to do with politics. In fact, it would be political not to cut just because we are in an election campaign.
Homeowners should not be denied the next cut because of politics. It should be a purely economic decision.
Jericho said the 25-basis point cut would save households “around $100 a month on a $600,000 loan”.
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Watch: cash rate explainer
Amid all the Reserve Bank news, here is our explainer which outlines what exactly the cash rate is, and how it is different to interest rates:
Better Renting doesn’t expect rates cut to directly lead to lower rental costs
Joel Dignam, the executive director of Better Renting, says he doesn’t expect the cut in interest rates to directly lead to lower rental costs.
He said this is because “increases in landlord costs don’t automatically lead to higher rents, and decreases to landlord costs don’t automatically lead to lower rents”.
Rent increases, or decreases, are to do with market conditions and how much demand there is relative to the rental supply. They aren’t because of landlord costs. Given this, we don’t expect the cut in interest rates to directly lead to lower rental costs. It’s also worth noting that about 30% of landlords have no mortgage, and a proportion of landlords with a mortgage will have a fixed rate.
He said that over the long-term, “lower interest rates should lead to more housing supply and we would expect this to lead to lower rents”.
But ultimately this is because of a higher rental vacancy rates – basically, more rentals available in the market – not necessarily because landlord costs have changed.
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Acoss urges all parties and candidates to commit to more direct support and not rely on RBA
The Australian Council of Social Services is urging all parties and candidates to commit to more direct support, rather than relying on the RBA to address financial hardship.
The Acoss CEO, Cassandra Goldie, said the rate cut was “long overdue” but would “not be nearly enough to help people who are really struggling”.
The next government will have to take more action to protect living standards. Millions of people on low and fixed incomes, many of whom do not have mortgages, need more than rate cuts. They need direct government support.
Goldie also said interest rates did not need to be raised as high as they were to combat inflation.
We’ve been saying for a year now that interest rates were higher than needed to curb inflation. Both inflation and unemployment are now lower than many, including the RBA, expected.
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Treasurer says worst of inflation challenge ‘behind us’ but ‘we can’t be complacent’
Continuing from our last post: The treasurer’s statement trumpets his belief that “the worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, but we can’t be complacent.” Jim Chalmers said:
Today’s decision is welcome but it’s not mission accomplished because people are still under pressure. The Government will maintain a primary focus on the cost of living.
Australians would be thousands of dollars worse off if Peter Dutton had his way on tax cuts, wages and energy bill relief – and worse off still if he wins the election.
The biggest risk to the progress we have made together is a Coalition government that would come after Medicare again, push wages down again, and push electricity prices up with more expensive nuclear energy.
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Chalmers welcomes rate cut as ‘relief Australians need and deserve’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is quick out of the gate to herald the RBA’s rate cut decision, saying it is “relief Australians need and deserve”, and claiming it as vindication for the government’s economic plan.
Chalmers’ response to the long-awaited rate cut dropped into our inboxes barely five minutes after the RBA decision. The government has been sweating on an interest rate cut to boost its election chances, with the way now clearer for an announcement of a poll date potentially as soon as early April. Chalmers said:
This is very welcome news for millions of Australians. This is the rate relief Australians need and deserve. It won’t solve every problem in our economy or in household budgets but it will help. Today’s result is a demonstration of the substantial and sustained progress we’ve made on inflation together.
Numerous other Labor MPs were very quick to post to social media that the rates had been cut. Chalmers notes “when we came to office, interest rates were going up, now they are going down”.
Under Labor, inflation is down, wages are up, unemployment is low and now interest rates have started to come down too. This is the soft landing we have been planning for and preparing for but we know there’s more work to do.
Other countries have had to pay for progress on inflation with higher unemployment, growth going backwards or even a recession. Inflation is now almost a third of the 6.1% we inherited, and that’s a testament to the efforts of all Australians.
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Westpac, NAB and Commonwealth Bank reduce interest rates after RBA cut
Following the RBA’s decision, NAB has announced it would reduce the standard variable home loan interest rate by 0.25%, effective 28 February.
Group executive for personal banking, Ana Marinkovic, said:
The extended period of high interest rates has placed real strain on household budgets and this rate reduction will help to ease the financial burden. We wanted to move quickly after the RBA’s decision to provide customers with certainty.
NAB said that since 2017, it has consistently implemented changes to the standard variable rates after 10 days following an RBA announcement, “regardless of whether the cash rate has increased or decreased”.
Commonwealth Bank also said it would reduce its variable mortgage rates in line with the RBA decision.
Westpac also announced immediately after the rate cut was revealed that it would reduce its variable interest rates on home loans by 25 basis points for new and existing customers, effective 4 March.
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RBA announces quarter-point reduction in cash rate to 4.1%
The Reserve Bank has announced a quarter-point reduction in the cash rate to 4.1%.
The decision is a sign the RBA believes inflation is being tamed, and there is room to ease pressure on mortgaged households.
A household with a $750,000 loan will see their monthly repayments reduce by $115 if their mortgage rate falls by 25 basis points, in line with the cash rate decision.
The RBA acknowledged there was a “high degree of uncertainty” about the policies of the Trump administration and how they would affect the global economy. The new tariff regime is widely viewed as inflationary, given consumers will pay for increases in the cost of global goods, which could upset the anticipated rate-cutting cycle.
The central bank’s forecasts have core inflation, its preferred measure that removes volatile prices and government-subsidised measures, falling faster than previously expected, to stabilise at around 2.75% from late this year.
Firefighters believe charging e-bike caused fatal house fire in Sydney this morning
Fire and Rescue NSW believe a charging e-bike was the cause of a fatal house fire in Sydney’s west early this morning.
As we reported earlier, one person has died after the house fire at Guildford just before 5am. Five occupants escaped, however a man – yet to be formally identified – was found inside. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
FRNSW crews confirmed there were no working smoke alarms in the Rowley Road house.
On arrival firefighters found a bedroom in the home well ablaze. Crews were able to contain the fire to the bedroom, but the remainder of the home suffered smoke damage.
The fire investigation and research unit has determined that an incompatible charger was powering an e-bike battery in the bedroom at the time of the fire. The food delivery bike itself was found outside the home.
Investigators believe the battery was unable to absorb the energy generated by the charger and overheated, likely causing the fire. FRNSW and NSW police are preparing information for the coroner.
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Queensland government to release Olympics report next month
The Queensland government will announce its plans for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics next month.
The deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, told parliament today that a review of Olympics plans by its Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority will complete its final report by 8 March. The document will then be made public on 25 March, alongside the government’s response:
On the 25th of March, all will be revealed. Our delivery plan will provide a new way forward and get the games back on track and three years of Labor, delays and wrong priorities, there is little time to waste.
Queenslanders no longer want to be embarrassed on the world stage. We will deliver a 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games our state can be proud of and showcase what makes us a great state on the world stage.
It’s the second review of plans for the Olympics. Former premier Steven Miles also appointed a board to review the plans of his successor, Annastacia Palaszczuk, but ignored the primary recommendation that athletics be held at Victoria Park in inner-city Brisbane. Instead, Labor planned to hold the busiest sports at a site in Brisbane’s south, at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.
The new government has repeatedly promised not to build any new stadiums for the games, and specifically ruled out doing so at the Gabba, Victoria Park or the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.
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Reactions flow to NSW government’s proposed new laws against inciting hatred
The Independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, has welcomed a move from the NSW government to introduce laws against inciting hatred (see earlier post).
In a post to X, she Spender said she sought these changes at a national level “but Labor and the Coalition didn’t back them”.
I’ll keep pushing. But NSW mustn’t exclude hate against other targeted groups. Inciting hatred is corrosive and it needs to stop.
Meanwhile, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties says the the incitement of violence on the basis of race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status and HIV status is already illegal, “and rightly so”.
These laws protect our community while not unreasonably burdening free speech. The proposed changes expand these laws to criminalise only the incitement of racial hatred and will have the effect of expanding existing divisions in our community.
Timothy Roberts, president of the NSWCCL, said criminal laws should “always be a last resort [because] you cannot arrest your way to social cohesion, you cannot arrest your way to stop hate.”
Just as heavy criminal penalties already in place have not stopped arson, hate symbols and graffiti.
Wong warns of Russian misinformation amid video of Oscar Jenkins
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, has cautioned about Russian misinformation and Moscow’s “propensity to provide us with incorrect information”, when asked about the video which emerged overnight of Australian man Oscar Jenkins who was captured while fighting in Ukraine.
Wong spoke to the ABC this afternoon, calling on Russia to release Jenkins after he was taken hostage last year. Reports emerged this year that he may have been killed, but then further information to the government indicated he may still be alive. A YouTube video emerged in the last 24 hours appearing to show him alive. Wong said:
First I want to say that we call on Russia to release Mr Jenkins. We hold serious concerns for his warfare, and I have, and we will continue to engage with both Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in relation to Mr Jenkins.
The government was aware of this video in recent days. I will say, we do know that Russia is very prone to misinformation and disinformation, and I think in relation to Mr Jenkins, more generally, we should always be aware of Russia’s propensity to provide us with incorrect information.
Asked if Australia was discussing a prisoner swap directly with Russia to secure Jenkins’ freedom, Wong declined to comment publicly, saying she would not speculate.
We’ve obviously made our position very clear to Russia, and we will continue to do so. What I would say is, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war, that there are Geneva conventions [and] international law which apply to him, and Russia must observe them.
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Dutton says ‘free world’ must ‘stand together’ and pressure Putin
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, says Australia “stands proudly” with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people. In a post to X, he wrote:
The UK has provided stoic leadership, along with others, since the moment of Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.
Peace and stability will prevail across Europe if the free world stands together and continues to pressure Putin. He must not be given an inch and certainly not rewarded for his murderous deeds.
Deep low over Tasman Sea behind south-eastern cold snap
The Bureau of Meteorology says the cold snap in south-eastern parts of the country is being caused by a deep low circulating over the Tasman Sea.
The bureau is forecasting strong winds and powerful southerly swells for northern New South Wales and the south-east Queensland coast.
Hazardous surf warnings are in place for the Byron, Coffs, Macquarie and Hunter coasts in NSW, and for the K’gari coast, Sunshine Coast waters and Gold Coast waters in Queensland.
Satellite imagery shows cloud circulating over the #TasmanSea. This deep low is linked to the recent cold snap in SE #Australia.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 18, 2025
Strong winds and powerful southerly swells for northern #NSW and #SEQld coast with #HazardousSurfWarnings in place.
Latest: https://t.co/jlOoTZL1iF pic.twitter.com/mcykAkV9lH
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Steggall lashes Dutton’s plan to break up insurers
Independent MP for Warringah, Zali Steggall, has lashed Peter Dutton’s threat to break up insurance providers as “populist rhetoric masquerading as a credible solution”.
Steggall said she agrees with the opposition leader that “astronomically high insurance costs are a threat to families, and a threat to our economy”, noting that the climate crisis is already costing Australians $38bn a year.
By 2060 the annual cost is projected to almost double to $73bn. Meanwhile, recent economic modelling predicts a 14% annual hit to Australia’s GDP by 2050 driven by disaster damage, labour force impacts, and reduced land productivity from climate change, if action isn’t taken.
These are not hypothetical risks; the climate crisis is already impacting household budgets, destabilising businesses and supply chains, and threatening our living standards and way of life.
Steggall said climate risk is one of the biggest threats to Australia’s democracy, but Dutton “refuses to acknowledge it and has no plan to address it”.
He seems to think that if he doesn’t mention climate change, somehow it will go away. It won’t. Breaking up insurers will not make insurance more affordable. Unless we address the massive, underlying factor of climate risk – its associated costs are only going to escalate.
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Nacc to investigate six individuals referred to body after robodebt royal commission following review
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has announced it will investigate the six individuals referred to the body after the robodebt royal commission, following an independent review.
The anti-corruption watchdog has released a statement confirming the six referrals would be investigated to “determine whether or not any of the six referred persons engaged in corrupt conduct”.
The commission is now making arrangements to ensure the impartial and fair investigation of the referrals, as it did with the appointment of Mr Nettle as independent reconsideration delegate. The commissioner and those deputy commissioners who were involved in the original decision not to investigate the referrals, will not participate in the investigation.
The Nacc’s own watchdog, Nacc inspector, Gail Furness, released a report in October finding that the Nacc commissioner, Paul Brereton, was “affected by apprehended bias” and should have “removed himself from related decision-making processes and limited his exposure to the relevant factual information”. Furness also said there was “no intentional wrongdoing”.
After the report’s release, the Nacc announced it would engage an “independent eminent person” to reconsider whether the referrals should be investigated.
The independent reviewer, Geoffrey Nettle AC KC, made a decision earlier this month, the Nacc said, adding it would not divulge its reasons for relaunching the investigations.
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Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming not in parliament
Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming will remain out of the country and miss a week of parliament due to a reported medical situation, just days after telling the party she would cut short her planned trip to London where she was due to attend a Jordan Peterson conference.
A spokesperson for the opposition leader, Brad Battin, confirmed Deeming remained overseas and was prevented from travelling back home. The spokesperson said:
Moira Deeming MP will not be able to return to Melbourne in time for the upcoming parliamentary sitting week due to an unforeseen medical situation. Moira appreciates the community’s understanding and respect for her family’s privacy as they navigate this challenging situation.
Deeming had cancelled her plans to attend the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference after public pressure from senior colleagues, telling the Guardian she would return early from her trip to the UK due to “distraction caused by uninformed and unfair characterisations of my leave entitlements”.
A Labor party source confirmed the party had granted her a pair to negate her absence for the entire week after being provided a medical certificate this morning.
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Australian shares drop as traders wait for RBA decision
The local share market is on track for its second day of losses, AAP reports, as traders wait to see if the Reserve Bank cuts rates for the first time in more than four years.
At midday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 51.1 points, or 0.6%, to 8,486.0, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 48.1 points, or 0.55%, to 8,762.8.
The Reserve Bank will hand down its latest decision on interest rates at 2.30pm AEDT. Yesterday the futures market was giving 90% implied odds that Australia’s central bank would cut rates for the first time since November 2020.
If the RBA surprises and keeps rates on hold, expect the ASX200 to dive back towards support at 8,440/8,460 and the Australian dollar to rip higher towards resistance at 64.40 to 64.60 US cents, said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
Seven of the ASX’s 11 sectors were lower at midday, with consumer staples, health care and tech higher and utilities flat.
Energy was the biggest mover, dropping 1.7% as Woodside fell 2.2% and Whitehaven Coal retreated 3.5%. All of the big four banks were lower, with Westpac dropping 2.2%, CBA and NAB both retreating 1.2% and ANZ dipping 0.6%.
The Australian dollar was buying 63.42 US cents, from 63.60 US cents at 5pm yesterday.
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Flight Centre welcomes ACCC backing of Virgin and Qatar alliance
Travel agency Flight Centre has welcomed news of the ACCC backing a partnership between Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways that will effectively double the amount of flights the Doha-based carrier operates to Australia.
Flight Centre’s corporate global chief operating officer, Melissa Elf, said the move would bring about stronger competition and capacity:
The [move] will support the recovery of our international visitor economy, and strongly contribute to corporate travel recovery.
It will not only make travel to the Middle East and Europe more affordable for our corporate travellers, but it will importantly see inbound benefits to Australian trade and tourism.
Elf said a similar example was playing out on flights into the US and China currently, proving there was a direct correlation between regions that were adding and welcoming airline capacity and the cost of travel decreasing.
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Queer music and arts festival joins growing number of festivals going on hiatus
The queer music and art festival Gaytimes is joining the growing list of festivals going on hiatus due to skyrocketing production costs, AAP reports.
The festival has been running almost a decade, but organisers say they are taking a break after this year’s outing in March as they work out how to make the event financially sustainable. Festival co-founder Anna Whitelaw said:
The last two years we’ve really seen our costs go through the roof, and we haven’t been able to manage those increases.
It comes days after R’n’B festival Souled Out, which was to have featured US R’n’B stars Don Toliver and Vince Staples, was cancelled.
The list of festivals that have succumbed to the challenges facing the Australian industry is long and growing, with Groovin the Moo, Harvest Rock, Spilt Milk and Splendour in the Grass among those cancelled.
Whitelaw said that while ticket and bar sales had previously covered costs, the price of everything from securing international artists, to insurance and portaloos has gone up.
The ninth edition of Gaytimes will be held from 21 to 23 March.
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More on the funding for complex mental health services
The health minister, Mark Butler, said “mainstream services don’t work for everyone” and the investment in diverse digital mental health programs will deliver “more mental health care, more fairly and more efficiently.”
All the successful grant applicants’ services are accredited against the national safety and quality digital mental health standards. Other funded programs include a first of its kind Australian digital mental health service for culturally and linguistically diverse communities being delivered by St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, through its This Way Up program.
The investment will also support the Parent-Infant Research Institute to help new fathers who are experiencing depression through the DadBooster national online treatment program, as well as its MumMoodBooster program for postnatal women. The Panda national perinatal mental health help line was also a recipient.
The other successful grant applicants include the Blue Knot Foundation’s helpline for those who have experienced complex trauma, the Butterfly Foundation’s national helpline which help Australians experiencing an eating disorder or body image issues, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia’s QLife program and Orygen’s Most program for young people from 12 to 25 years of age.
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Government grants $135.2m in funding to twelve mental health services
More Australians, including those with complex mental illness, will be able to access free digital mental health services tailored to their specific needs after the government granted $135.2m in funding to twelve mental health services.
While funding has long been directed towards digital solutions for mild to moderate mental health conditions, more than five million Australians living with complex, severe or long term mental ill health and trauma will now also be able to get tailored support online.
Sane, the government funded national provider of support for complex or severe mental health, has been awarded $27.3m over three years for the national roll out of a free digital psychosocial recovery program for those with mental illness, as well as for their family, carers and kin.
According to Sane’s CEO, Rachel Green, this investment is the first of its kind globally and an enormous step forward when it comes to the accessibility:
There’s strong evidence that digital mental health support services are just as effective as face to face services, more economical and rapidly scalable to overcome geographic or workforce challenges.
Our services have now grown to encompass a stepped digital support offering, proven by independent evaluation to reduce symptom domination, improve quality of life, and importantly, empower individuals to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to build their own recovery journey.
The Sane digital program will be made nationally available for free from July 2025, with support services including a 14 week program of one on one recovery-focused counselling or peer support, semi-guided “recovery club” including online group session, tailored recovery resources and peer support, as well as self-guided recovery community where people can connect with peers within a safe, moderated environment.
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Virgin Australia welcomes ACCC draft determination on proposed alliance with Qatar
Virgin Australia has welcomed the ACCC’s draft determination regarding its proposed alliance with Qatar Airways, as we reported earlier.
A spokesperson with Virgin said in a statement:
This announcement – recommending authorisation of a five-year alliance with no conditions – will deliver significant benefits to Australian travellers in the form of greater competition, value and choice when travelling to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as significant benefits to the Australian economy more broadly, including tourism, job creation and better freight export options.
Virgin Australia’s proposed new services from Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane to Doha are currently on sale, and today’s ACCC announcement confirms their support for these services.
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Minister says alleged attack of two women wearing hijab ‘unacceptable’
The assistant minister for multicultural affairs, Julian Hill, says the alleged attack of two women in Melbourne is “unacceptable”.
As Mostafa Rachwani reports, Victorian police said the two women – who were wearing hijabs – were allegedly attacked by the same assailant at Epping shopping centre on Thursday.
Investigators said both victims were attacked by a woman who then left on foot with a man. Police said investigations were ongoing – including “whether these were prejudice-motivated assaults”.
In a statement today, Hill said the two women were allegedly “attacked on the same day while going about their daily lives”, and “I wish this was an isolated incident, but the truth is it is not.”
Muslim women in my community in south-east Melbourne and elsewhere in Australia report a spike in racism and Islamophobic incidents. Community experience is validated by data including a 510% spike in reports to the Islamophobia Register of Islamophobic incidents … Racism in any form in Australia is completely unacceptable and should be reported, called out and dealt with.
Hill said Islamophobic incidents are likely under-reported “as many women feel that authorities would not take them seriously”.
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Child allegedly hit by car in south-west Sydney
A child is in a critical condition after allegedly being hit by a car in south-west Sydney.
About 8.40am, emergency services were called to North Liverpool Road in Mount Pritchard, after reports of a crash. Officers from NSW police were told a 10-year-old boy had allegedly been hit by a Mercedes.
He was treated by paramedics before being taken to Westmead children’s hospital in a critical condition. The driver – a 35-year-old woman – was taken to Liverpool hospital for mandatory testing.
A crime scene has been established and an investigation is under way.
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Victorian government removes ‘political purpose’ defence from anti-vilification bill
The Victorian government has changed its anti-vilification bill to remove the “political purpose” defence that was opposed by the Coalition and Jewish community groups.
In a letter sent to religious leaders yesterday, yesterday, the attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, confirmed the government will move two amendments to the bill in the lower house this week.
This will include removing the bill’s “genuine political purpose” defence, which she admitted in the letter “could have been misused to excuse vilifying conduct”, though this “was not the intention”.
“Proselytising and preaching”, meanwhile, will be added to the religious purpose exception after concerns the existing language in the bill only protected “worship, observance, practice and teaching”.
The legislation, if passed, will expand the state’s existing legal protections against vilification, which now only cover race and religion, to cover disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.
It would make serious vilification offences – such as incitement of hatred or physical threats – punishable by up to five years’ jail.
The proposed amendments address the main concerns from the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Zionism Victoria, the Zionist Federation of Australia, and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which sent a joint letter to state MPs two weeks ago.
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Ten Australian universities listed in global reputation rankings
Ten universities in Australia have made Times Higher Education’s list of the top 300 prestigious academic brands.
The University of Melbourne ranked first in Australia, coming 47th overall, while UNSW appeared in the top 100 for the first time since 2020, scraping in at 97, while New Zealand was represented for the first time since 2022 thanks to the University of Auckland.
Also in the top 100 were the University of Sydney (60), Monash University (63), the University of Queensland (78) and the Australian National University (86).
The list is based on a survey of 55,000 academic experts, with additional methodology.
Harvard University came first overall for the 14th year in a row, while the University of Oxford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked equal second.
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Competition watchdog backs Virgin and Qatar Airways alliance
The competition watchdog has proposed to authorise a partnership between Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways that will effectively double the amount of flights the Doha-based carrier operates to Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Tuesday said it is proposing to grant authorisation to the airlines to enter into an alliance which will see the two carriers operate an additional 28 weekly flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to Doha.
The agreement will see Virgin Australia, which has not owned any planes capable of long-haul flights since its pandemic-induced restructure, enter into a “wet lease” agreement with Qatar Airways, in which it leases not just the Middle Eastern carrier’s aircraft but also its crew.
In effect, the authorisation via an Australian airline allows Qatar Airways to bypass the requirement for its government to secure increased bilateral air rights with Australia, more than a year after the Albanese government infamously shot down the carrier’s push for an additional 28 weekly flights in a decision that fuelled speculation about Qantas’s influence in Canberra.
The ACCC commissioner, Anna Brakey, said the proposed cooperative conduct is likely to result in public benefits and is unlikely to result in any public detriment.
We consider that the proposed cooperative conduct would likely result in several public benefits including providing enhanced products and services for air travellers which would include increased choice of international flights, with additional connectivity, convenience and loyalty program benefits for consumers.
The proposed alliance is part of a broader move that will see Qatar Airways take a 25% minority ownership stake in Virgin Australia.
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Australia's most notorious paedophile priest dies in jail
A paedophile priest, convicted of abusing more than 70 children over three decades, has died.
AAP reports that Gerald Ridsdale died this morning in prison. He was 90.
Ridsdale’s appalling history of child abuse began in 1961 – the year he was ordained as a priest.
He spent the next three decades abusing dozens of children across regional Victoria, often using his privileged status as a priest to earn the trust of his victims and their families.
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BHP trims dividend to 8-year low amid weak China demand
BHP will pay its lowest interim dividend in eight years after a 23% drop in underlying profit, AAP reports, amid a weak demand from China for the raw materials used for making steel.
It will pay shareholders an interim dividend of 50 US cents ($A0.78) a share, down from US$0.72 (A$1.13) a share a year ago.
BHP today said it made US$5.1bn in underlying profit for the six months to 31 December, down from $6.6bn a year ago. Revenue was down 8% to US$25.2bn, due to lower iron ore and coking coal prices, partially offset by higher copper prices.
Iron ore and coking coal are two key components for steel making, and BHP said that while the global economy grew 3.2% last year, services outperformed industrial activity, which had led to slowing commodity demand in many economies.
Central banks’ ongoing rate cuts are expected to translate into a recovery for steel and copper among the world’s most developed countries in the near term, BHP said, but potential trade tensions pose a risk to the recovery. BHP’s chief executive officer, Mike Henry, said:
The trajectory of the world population growing from eight billion today to 10 billion in 2050, with more people living in cities, together with the energy transition and the growth of data centres and AI, will compound the need for more metals and minerals.
In opening trade, BHP shares were down 0.7% to $40.50.
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NSW government ‘at the end of the road’ in rail union negotiations – Minns
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, also addressed the media earlier this morning, where he discussed the breakdown in negotiations between the rail unions and the state government.
Minns said that with “the amount of time that’s been focused on these negotiations, we’re at the end of the road”. But he didn’t want to speculate on the outcome of the Fair Work Commission hearing on Wednesday:
I’m not going to speculate on it. The reason is – and I’m not trying to be coy about next steps – the reason I don’t want to speculate on it … is because I don’t want to prejudice our case before the commission, and I want to treat their decision and their deliberation with respect.
But I’m not ruling anything out … I’m at a disadvantage here, because by speculating on it, I think that we would be – I just don’t want to do it. I want to see the court make a decision.
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ACTU secretary: it would be ‘dire mistake’ for RBA not to cut rates
The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, has been speaking to reporters in Sydney ahead of the Reserve Bank interest rates decision this afternoon.
She said it would be a “dire mistake” for the board to decide not to cut rates:
They would be harming working people, harming the real economy, which is, of course, working people’s budgets. So we are urging them to get with the program and to get behind the country and get behind Australia and working people who are the drivers of our economy to cut interest rates today.
We would like to see that at least a quarter per cent cut, but half a per cent will be much better. We need this in order to move forward. Again, real wages are growing. However, the big missing piece at the moment is the RBA actually moving and cutting interest rates, like central banks have done around the world.
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Government calls on Russia to release Oscar Jenkins
A spokesperson for the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has issued a statement after an unverified video uploaded to YouTube appears to show Australian Oscar Jenkins alive in Russian captivity, though weak and with a serious injury.
In January there were reports that Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne, had died after his capture while serving alongside Ukraine’s armed forces. The video appears to be intended to counter those reports.
In a statement, the spokesperson said:
We still hold serious concerns for Mr Jenkins’ welfare. Australia has made clear to Russia that Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war and Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The government calls on Russia to release Mr Jenkins. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues to provide consular support to his family.
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Victorian government introduces new nurse-to-patient ratios
Victoria patients in intensive care units will be assigned a designated nurse at all times under new nurse-to-patient ratios to be introduced to parliament.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and the health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, held a press conference at the Royal Melbourne hospital to announce the amendments to the state’s nurse-to-patient ratios, which were a key commitment at the 2022 state election. They include:
Introducing a “gold standard” 1:1 nurse to patient ratio in ICUs on all shifts for all level 1 and 2 hospitals. ICUs will also require a team leader and liaison nurse rostered on at all times for the first time
1:4 midwife-to-patient ratios in postnatal and antenatal wards on night shifts, down from 1:6
The introduction of an in-charge nurse on night shifts in standalone high dependency units and coronary care units
The introduction of a dedicated nurse in each resuscitation bay in emergency departments on every shift
The government says the changes will lead to an increase in the number of nurses working on night shifts and with the expertise to manage patients with multiple and complex needs. Allan said in a statement:
Anyone who’s experienced the incredible care of our nurses and midwives knows just how special their work really is. These reforms will mean an extra pair of hands, and an extra set of eyes, for some of our most precious patients.
We’ll bring you more from the press conference shortly.
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Deadly house fire linked to ‘relentless’ tobacco wars, police say
A house fire that killed a “completely innocent” woman is a case of mistaken identity linked to Melbourne’s tobacco wars, police say.
AAP reports that Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother’s home in Truganina, in the city’s west, in the early hours of 16 January.
Arson and explosives squad Det Insp Chris Murray today said the crime syndicate’s efforts are “relentless” and vowed to get justice for Tangey and her family.
Katie Tangey – a daughter, a sister, a friend, a beloved member of her community – has needlessly lost her life in this senseless and despicable incident, which we are investigating as a deliberate act. This is a tragedy. To those responsible: we are committing every resource we have to finding you and holding you accountable for this homicide.
The violence that we have seen from these organised crime syndicates and this relentless drive for profits above all else has resulted in this incident. It could be described as nothing less than a flagrant disregard for human life. This is the type of crime even the most hardened criminal would be disgusted with.
Investigations over the past month have led police to believe the arson attack was likely linked to Victoria’s illicit tobacco trade wars. A dark vehicle – similar to a BMW X3 – was captured on CCTV travelling north on Forsyth Road in Truganina at approximately 2.12am. A ring camera at the house captured the moment the house was engulfed, before two men, one carrying what appears to be a jerry can, fled the scene.
No one has been arrested or charged as of Tuesday morning, police confirmed.
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Warnes: union will ‘comply with whatever the Fair Work Commission’ decides
Toby Warnes said the union members who haven’t shown up for work “obviously aren’t being paid”.
On the Fair Work Commission hearing on Wednesday, he added:
If the Fair Work Commission grants that order, then obviously we comply with whatever the Fair Work Commission [says]. You saw it yesterday when the trains ran smoothly after the president issued a recommendation. So we’ll see what the full bench of the Fair Work Commission comes down with tomorrow.
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Rail workers ‘one small payment away’ from a deal – union chief
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s NSW secretary, Toby Warnes, has accused the state government of walking away from negotiations during an interview on the Today Show earlier this morning amid a breakdown in talks.
Yesterday, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the state government “cannot give in to the union’s blackmail”. Warnes rejected the notion:
I don’t think the premier knows what blackmail is. That was a very, very odd statement … We’re one small payment away from reaching a deal. We should have reached a deal last Thursday, but once again, the NSW government threw its toys out of the cot and walked away from the negotiating table.
Warne said the average Sydney train driver earns $88,000 a year and train cleaners $55,000 – but negotiations aren’t “about wages any more”.
This is about [an] existing entitlement that sits in our enterprise agreement that Transport for NSW, right at the last minute, decided it wanted to get back.
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Less food is being wasted, according to new report
Australia throws out over 7.6m tonnes of food each year, enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground 10 times over, but some progress is being made to reduce waste as the cost-of-living crisis bites.
AAP reports that big supermarket chains such as Coles and Woolworths, caterers and manufacturers who are all part of the Australian Food Pact have reduced their overall food waste by 13% in the last three years.
A 21-page report published today by End Food Waste Australia found that an estimated 505,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions were avoided and about 16,000 tonnes of food saved from 2022 to 2024.
The environmental benefits go beyond emissions, with food waste reduction saving water and arable land. Savings have also accrued financially for food, sellers with the report estimating a combined $57m retained.
The report noted that of the food Australia wastes each year, about 70% is perfectly edible. However, the current tax framework treats food donations the same as waste disposal, discouraging businesses from donating surplus food to charities.
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Bushfire danger period lifted early for nine NSW LGAs amid recent rainfall
Due to easing conditions and recent rainfall in north-eastern NSW, the Rural Fire Service has declared an early end to the bushfire danger period for nine LGAs:
Ballina
Bellingen
Byron
Clarence Valley
Coffs Harbour
Kyogle
Lismore
Richmond Valley
Tweed
Fire permits are still required in all other areas, the RFS said.
Due to easing conditions and recent rainfall, the #RFS is declaring an early end to the Bush Fire Danger Period for nine Local Government Areas in the state’s north east. Fire permits are still required in all other areas. For more information visit: https://t.co/rYWXBlK4Do pic.twitter.com/2UremdVfhB
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) February 17, 2025
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One dead in house fire in Sydney’s west
A person has died in a house fire in Sydney’s west this morning.
Emergency services responded to the blaze at Guildford just before 5am, which caused extensive damage to a home, NSW police said.
Five occupants escaped, however a man – yet to be formally identified – was found inside. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Officers have established a crime scene and an investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the fire. A report will also be prepared for the coroner.
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NSW transport minister ‘not suggesting we are close’ to ending rail dispute
The NSW transport minister, John Graham, also spoke on ABC News Breakfast this morning to provide an update on the state’s rail network and negotiations with the unions.
He said services were running “close to time” this morning, “despite having more than 100 staff who haven’t shown up to work”.
Many of those families or businesses who are hoping for a cut from the RBA, when it comes to interest rates later this afternoon, will be hoping for an end to this rail dispute also. It has put huge pressure on families and businesses right at the moment.
Asked how long the dispute with the unions may continued – for days, weeks? – Graham pointed to the Fair Work Commission hearing about the action on Wednesday morning.
We are hoping for an end to this industrial action, a chance to have a cooling-off period, negotiate an end to this industrial action and a fair pay deal for those rail workers.
But he went on to say, “I am not suggesting we are close”.
I don’t want to make predictions given the twists and turns in this tale, but [we] will put a strong case in the morning.
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Hanson-Young: ‘definitely time’ for interest rate cut
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young spoke on ABC News Breakfast just earlier, ahead of today’s interest rate decision by the RBA. She said it was “definitely time for a cut” and that families across the country were hoping for this.
We need the RBA to heed the concerns of Australians and economists – inflation is down, people are hurting, businesses are struggling. It is time to cut.
Hanson-Young added that Australians needed more than a cut, which would be “very small”.
Anything at this point is helpful, but we need more cost-of-living relief for families. We need more from the federal government and Peter Dutton as we go into this election.
The opposition has put nothing on the table for cost-of-living relief for families. Some for the bosses, so they can go and have lunch, but very little for helping families pay for the lunches of kids as they get ready for school in the morning.
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NSW rail union ‘alienating people’ with strikes – Albanese
The prime minister was also asked to weigh in on the ongoing dispute between the NSW government and rail unions – and whether the federal government plans to intervene.
But Anthony Albanese shot this suggestion down, saying this was “a state dispute of a state branch of a union over pay with a state government”.
I support very much the efforts of the Minns government to bring this dispute to an end, common sense has to apply here, and I think that the union needs to acknowledge that it is alienating people through these actions of not turning up to work. And there was hope on the weekend that it would be settled, [and] it should have been …
We’re getting to the point where the union needs to see common sense, settle this dispute with the Minns government. [The NSW premier] Chris Minns is working very hard to get an end to this dispute.
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Albanese defends Labor ad that targeted Dutton on Medicare
Anthony Albanese was asked whether Labor’s message about cost-of-living relief was actually getting through to voters, after the latest polling numbers released yesterday. He responded:
We know that all of those cost-of-living measures, including the tax cuts, were opposed by Peter [Dutton], every single one of them, and if he had have had his way, Australians would be – on average – $7,200 worse off.
And we know that he’s planning further cuts. He won’t tell people what they are, but he’s saying there’ll be cuts. And last time around, that meant a GP tax.
The prime minister was asked about an ad the Labor party ran regarding Dutton’s stance on Medicare, and whether Labor is running a “Mediscare” campaign. Albanese again pointed to the attempted GP tax, and continued:
It is accurate to say that Peter Dutton tried to abolish bulk billing by introducing a GP tax every time people went to the doctors … On the weekend, he did an interview again where he repeated … the statement that you don’t value it if it’s free.
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Government has ‘serious concerns’ for Oscar Jenkins’ welfare
Anthony Albanese has been asked about the video of Oscar Jenkins – which has not been independently verified by Guardian Australia – and has said the Australian government continues to hold “serious concerns” for his welfare.
I have seen the video, but we still hold serious concerns for Mr Jenkins’ welfare. We’ve made it clear to Russia that Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war and that there are obligations that kick in, in accordance with international humanitarian law, and they must be observed.
We’ve also, of course, made representations to Ukraine, including a one-on-one discussion that I had with president [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy raising Mr Jenkins’ welfare. We have called for Russia to release Mr Jenkins so that he can come home to his family.
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PM defends economic record ahead of RBA interest rate decision
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been speaking on ABC Sydney radio ahead of today’s interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank.
He said the RBA would “make a decision based upon the economics, not based upon any politics”, and defended his government’s economic record:
This has been a global inflation spike and overseas, of course, [it] hit double digits in some places. Our neighbours in New Zealand [are] in a deep recession at the moment now. We’ve managed to avoid that. The economy has continued to grow.
We’ve created more jobs than any government since federation, and importantly, I think something I’m really proud of is that we have the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in the last 50 years.
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Australian and Chinese officials meet after midair incident
Australian military officials have reportedly raised concerns with their Chinese counterparts about a midair incident over the South China Sea during senior official talks in Beijing, AAP reports.
On Monday, senior officials from both countries met in Beijing for the Australia-China Defence Strategic Dialogue – the first since 2019. The Australian defence department’s statement after the talks hinted at the midair incident being discussed:
Australia reiterated the importance of all countries in the region operating in a safe and professional manner at all times to avoid the risk of miscalculation or escalation. Both countries exchanged views on bilateral, global and regional security issues, as well as military transparency and communication.
Australia affirmed the importance of “all countries acting in a manner that respects sovereignty and upholds peace, security and stability”.
Meanwhile China’s defence ministry said in a statement that the two countries had an “in-depth” exchange of views on bilateral and military relations, regional security and other issues of common concern.
Both sides agreed to continue to strengthen strategic communication in defence, properly handle conflicts and differences, and carry out exchanges and cooperation, the statement said.
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Burke declines to weigh in on Creative Australia decision
Tony Burke was also asked about the turmoil on the board of Creative Australia after it dumped artist Khaled Sabsabi as the country’s representative to the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Burke would not weigh in on whether CA should reinstate Sabsabi:
They made a decision as to not [be] going ahead with that now. I think the worst thing could happen now would be for politicians to be adjudicating on it. It should be made at arm’s length from politicians, that’s so important.
Burke said he had spoken to the CA chief executive, Adrian Collette, after the artist’s work came up in Senate discussion.
At that point, he had already determined that they were going to have a board meeting that night. I was very clear. I made clear to Adrian Collette, who I have known for more than a decade. I said to him whatever you decide, I will support you and I will support Creative Australia.
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Burke questioned on Nauru agreeing to take three violent offenders among NZYQ cohort
Appearing on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, the home affairs and creative arts minister, Tony Burke, was asked about Nauru agreeing to take three violent offenders who were among the so-called “NZYQ” cohort.
He said Nauru had approached the government, but would not say how much Australia had paid the small country in order to offload the refugees.
As you know, you know I’m not going to answer that one. I will explain just something on cost. The costs of an arrangement like this don’t get disclosed. That’s been the case for decades. It’s part of the arrangement with Nauru that is entered into, is that these issues also be kept confidential.
When asked how he would feel if they reoffended on Nauru, Burke said:
Sometimes we’re talking about individuals who have only lived in the community for a very, very short time … and sometimes you get people who the first time they were in the community was the same time they were committing a crime. The concept that Australia owes a particular obligation to these individuals, I really think is a stretch.
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Unverified video appears to show Oscar Jenkins alive in Russian captivity
An unverified video appears to show Australian man Oscar Jenkins alive in Russian captivity, after he was feared dead at one point.
In the video, uploaded to YouTube, a man behind the camera says it is 17 January 2025, before Jenkins identifies himself:
My name is Oscar Jenkins … I am 32 years old … I come from Australia.
The man behind the camera says Jenkins is a prisoner of war from the 66th Mechanised Brigade of the armed forces of Ukraine. Jenkins said he feels weak and has lost a lot of weight, and also has a broken arm.
The man behind the camera puts to him, “The information about your death is not right?” to which Jenkins replies, “correct”. The man behind the camera then asks Jenkins to remove his beanie and says:
Everything is OK, he is alive, and I think he will [be] better.
Guardian Australia has not independently verified the video. You can view it in full below, but please be warned: it may be distressing to watch.
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NSW government to introduce legislation strengthening racial hatred offences
People making racist remarks publicly could spend up to two years in jail and cop a fine of more than $10,000 under tough new laws in NSW, AAP reports.
Amid escalating antisemitic graffiti and vandalism incidents in Sydney, the Minns government is introducing a racial hatred incitement offence amendment to the Crimes Act in parliament today. The state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, said:
Racial hatred is unacceptable – and under this new legislation, it will be a crime to publicly and intentionally incite racial hatred. It is important for members of our community to be protected from conduct that causes them to fear for their safety, or to fear harassment, intimidation or violence.
The legislation will make it a crime to intentionally and publicly incite hatred towards another person, or group of people, on the grounds of race.
The amendment will establish a new section, 93ZAA of the Crimes Act, with a maximum penalty for an individual of two years behind bars, fines of up to $11,000, or both, while corporations can face fines of $55,000. The proposed offence stipulates that it must be a public act and that it intentionally incites hatred based on race.
The government maintains freedom of political speech will be protected and makes an exception “for directly referencing religious texts during religious teachings”.
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Welcome
Good morning, and welcome back to the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
The New South Wales government will today introduce a racial hatred incitement offence amendment to the Crimes Act, in response to a number of antisemitic attacks in the state. As AAP reports, people making racist remarks publicly could spend up to two years in jail and cop a fine of more than $10,000 under the tough new laws.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut the official cash rate today, raising hopes among mortgage holders that the era of high interest repayments will finally start to unwind. The official announcement is due at 2.30pm AEDT – so stay tuned.
Also, an unverified video online appears to show Australian man Oscar Jenkins, who was captured in Russia and at one point feared dead. We’ll have more on this shortly.
As always, you can reach out with any tips, questions or feedback via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s get started.
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