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Key posts
- Finance minister wouldn’t say if JobSeeker would go up
- Relief on inflation, but households hold breath for RBA next move
- Australian man falls overboard during cruise to Hawaii
- China to send peace envoy to Ukraine
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Finance minister wouldn’t say if JobSeeker would go up
Australia’s finance minister refused to comment on whether the government was planning to raise JobSeeker rate ahead of the budget.
Katy Gallagher was questioned about the payments on RN Breakfast this morning.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was quizzed about whether the government would increase the JobSeeker rate. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The budget will be handed down in just 12 days … obviously that will be the day that we announce what’s in it,” the finance minister said.
She said they received key reports and were aware of the push to increase the unemployment benefit, and those around single-parent payments.
“They’ve certainly been part of our consideration,” she said this morning.
Her comments come after four Labor backbenchers broke ranks on social security policy by joining hundreds of advocates who are calling for an increase in the JobSeeker rate.
The finance minister said the budget would have cost-of-living relief for “the most vulnerable”, but didn’t go into detail.
Shadow treasurer says government needs to tackle inflation ‘head on’
For readers who may have missed it, inflation figures were released yesterday and Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the worst of inflation was over.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said inflation eased to 7 per cent in the year to March, down from its 31-year high of 7.8 per cent at the end of 2022.
Through the March quarter, prices lifted 1.4 per cent, the lowest rate since late 2021.
But shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said in response that households were facing “extraordinary pain” because of cost-of-living pressures.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says the government needed to tackle inflation in the budget. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The truth of the matter is what we saw in the data … is inflation increases or inflation strength in our broad range of goods and services. It is almost across the board,” Taylor said yesterday.
He said the government did not have a plan to contain inflation and the budget was an opportunity to deal with it “head on”.
“The first thing that government can do in the budget is to reestablish a commitment to budget balance,” Taylor said.
He said it mattered because if the government borrowed more, it would put pressure on interest rates and impact all Australians.
“We need to see a budget that lowers taxes not raises them. We don’t need a government that is going to put extra pressure on Australians through higher taxes. The way to get the budget balanced is to manage spending,” he said.
Relief on inflation, but households hold breath for RBA next move
The Reserve Bank faces a knife-edge decision on whether to lift interest rates next week, with inflation slowly easing and signs cash-strapped households are restricting their spending to daily essentials.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday said inflation eased to 7 per cent in the year to March, down from its 31-year high of 7.8 per cent at the end of 2022.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says inflation is still too high. Credit: AAP
Through the March quarter, prices lifted 1.4 per cent, the lowest rate since late 2021.
However, prices of most goods and services – notably utilities and food – continue to soar.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is facing pressure to deliver cost-of-living relief to taxpayers in his May 9 budget, said the worst of inflation was over, but it remained too high.
Read the full story on this here.
Australian man falls overboard during cruise to Hawaii
In breaking news, a large-scale search has been launched for an Australian man who fell overboard while on a Royal Caribbean cruise from Brisbane to Hawaii.
Nine News reports the man fell from the Quantum of the Seas just after 11pm on Tuesday, local time.
The passenger reportedly fell overboard on day five of the 16-day cruise.Credit: Nine News
The ship had made a stop at Tahiti before the incident occurred.
Read more on this developing story here.
China to send peace envoy to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a “long and meaningful” phone call on Wednesday (Ukraine time).
It’s their first known contact since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, and Beijing appointed an envoy to pursue a “political settlement”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Credit: Getty
The hour-long call came two months after Beijing, which has long been aligned with Russia, said it wanted to act as a mediator and a month after Xi visited Moscow.
The call also coincided with indications that Ukraine is readying its forces for a spring counteroffensive.
Zelensky was upbeat about the conversation, which offered him the chance to insert his views into what had been a bilateral dialogue between Moscow and Beijing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is eager to keep Xi close as a counterweight to the US, which has sided with Ukraine.
The latest news on the conflict is available here, courtesy of Reuters.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and for your company.
It’s Thursday, April 27. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- Visa delays, red tape and other travel barriers “undermine Australia’s influence”, according to a review of the migration system.
- Inflation is slowly easing in Australia but the price of goods and services – including utilities and food – continue to rise.
- Australian students are feeling trapped as HECS debt will jump in line with inflation in June.
- The head of the Pharmacy Guild says pharmacists will lose out because of the government’s plan to double the number of medicines collected with each script.
- Japan’s departing ambassador to Australia warns time is running out to deter China from invading Taiwan.
- Meanwhile, NSW Coalition is gearing up to fight back against Labor’s planned repeal of Dominic Perrottet’s stamp duty reforms.
- In Victoria, the state’s Ombudsman Deborah Glass slammed the premier’s response to a “damning” report which found the government improperly awarded a $1.2 million contract.
- Overseas, an Australian man has fallen overboard during a Royal Carribean cruise to Hawaii.
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