Good afternoon. Inflation dived last month to its lowest rate in three years as household budgets started to feel the impact of the Albanese government’s cost-of-living relief and cheaper petrol – but the Reserve Bank will wait for a more sustained drop before it starts cutting interest rates.
Headline consumer price inflation in August was 2.7%, the slowest increase since August 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, called the numbers “heartening”, saying the government’s cost-of-living policies were “an important part of the story but not the whole story here”. The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, said Australia “remains close to the back of the pack in dealing with our core inflation”.
The CPI numbers were much as expected, with the dollar and stocks not budging much. But while the inflation slide will be welcomed by households, it is unlikely to sway the Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock.
Top news
Panic as BoM tests tsunami warning | The Bureau of Meteorology has apologised for confusion after sending a tsunami warning, before cancelling it. The bureau said it was testing new tsunami early warning software and reiterated there was no threat to safety.
Robodebt victims seek further compensation | Lawyers for victims of the debt recovery scandal will appeal against the $1.8bn settlement with the commonwealth, alleging “damning new evidence” that indicated senior public servants “knew that robodebt was unlawful but went ahead with it anyway”.
Labor refuses to rule out negative gearing changes | Anthony Albanese has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny whether the federal government is considering changes to negative gearing, but conceded that public servants “do a range of proposals” on potential ideas. The Greens have welcomed the idea, but the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said “we’ve got a housing policy and that is not in it”.
Renewables bounce back | Large-scale renewable energy investment and construction is rebounding this year after a slump, according to new data, but will need to accelerate to reach the pace needed to meet the Albanese government’s goal for 2030.
Tasmania joins commonwealth school funding deal | Tasmania has become the third jurisdiction to sign on to the commonwealth’s school funding deal, a move the state and federal governments say will see Tasmania’s public schools become fully funded by 2029. But the Australian Education Union has dismissed the agreement as a “cloak-and-dagger deal” which will never see schools reach their full funding level.
Missouri executes Marcellus Williams | The 55-year-old death row inmate was killed by lethal injection, ending a legal battle that has sparked widespread outrage as the prosecutors who originally tried the case suggested he was wrongfully convicted.
AFL issues warning over black market tickets | The AFL has warned fans to be vigilant around buying grand final tickets after thousands of official barcodes were “illegally downloaded” in a digital security breach. The AFL chief executive, Andrew Dillon, said the extent of the breach was “in the small four figures”.
Finland zoo returns giant pandas due to inflation | A zoo in Finland has blamed rising inflation and upkeep costs for its decision to return two giant pandas to China, more than eight years before the date they were set to go back.
What they said …
***
“Civilians are being killed by Israeli strikes and it is women and children who are paying the highest price … Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza. And the violence in Gaza must end.” – Penny Wong
In a strengthening of the government’s language, the foreign affairs minister said the Israeli assault on southern Lebanon “only makes an immediate ceasefire in Gaza even more urgent”, and that Australians in Lebanon should “take the first opportunity” to get out. The call comes amid more Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah confirmed the death of a senior commander in Beirut.
One big chart
If you live in a major city in Australia, it might feel like there is a new smoke or vape shop popping up every other week. Yet the smoking rate has been in constant decline since the 1990s. Nick Evershed digs into the data to find out: are there actually more smoke shops? Is this due to the skyrocketing rates of vaping? And how has the government’s crackdown on vape imports affected things, if at all?
Before bed read
‘Of course we’d come back’: the voices of Daria on its legacy – and future
Back in the late 90s, when MTV asked for a female-centric spin-off to their hit animated show Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria rose to the challenge. Two decades on from its finale, Daria is as intelligent, misanthropic and deeply relatable as ever – and its co-creators aren’t done with her yet.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: PROO. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter.
