Afternoon Update: interest rates hold steady; Rowland defends ABC independence; and how the democracy sausage is made

RBA governor Michele Bullock. While the inflation rate, at a 12-year high of 4.35%, does appear to be tapering off, the RBA accepts that it ‘remains high’. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.

Australian borrowers have been granted some additional breathing space today with the RBA holding interest rates steady for the third month in a row.