Happy hump day! A few eyebrows might be raised upon hearing the Reserve Bank governor’s comments about Australians struggling with rising interest rates and cost-of-living pressures: if they can work more hours and cut spending, they may get “back into a positive cash flow position”.
Philip Lowe also warned against the idea that all workers should be compensated for inflation, saying “we have to make sure that higher inflation doesn’t translate into higher wages for everybody”.
The remarks come amid intense scrutiny of the RBA’s decision, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, arguing that rising wages are not contributing to inflation.
And in some fun science news, researchers say they have discovered the origins of masturbation.
Top news
Fraser Island renamed K’gari | It’s official. The Queensland government has reinstated the name of the iconic island to K’gari (pronounced gurri), which translates to “paradise” in the local Butchulla language.
Slowing economy | If one of the reasons for raising interest rates is cooling the economy, it appears to be working, with the latest GDP figures showing the economy is slowing faster than expected, growing only 0.2% in Q1 this year.
Child jailed 15 times in Queensland | The latest in our investigative series into Queensland’s shocking youth detention system is an interview with a 14-year-old boy from Cairns who has been in and out of jail since he was 10, including weeks locked in solitary confinement. “It’s just like [being in] a box, a room with a toilet … a window, that’s it,” he says. “The way that it messes you up, it doesn’t make you the same on the outside. You used to be quiet or whatnot, when you get out you’re not the same.”
Yamba shooting | A firearms licence was reinstated to a man just months before he shot dead his teenage son and himself, in another horrific domestic violence incident that has left a small community in New South Wales reeling. The bodies of 58-year-old Wayne Smith and 15-year-old Noah were found at their home in Yamba in the northern rivers on Thursday, in an apparent murder-suicide.
Morrison government’s likely unlawful grant | The previous Coalition government gave $4m to an organisation accused of “extreme religious practices” – including exorcisms and gay conversion – on the same day the Australian government solicitor advised the grant would “likely be without lawful authority”.
Heavy rain in South Australia, Victoria | Thousands in South Australia were left without power after 83,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the state. The weather system is moving across Victoria and south-west NSW, with the BoM warning of minor to moderate flooding tonight in the greater Melbourne area and northern Victoria.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires | Hazy skies hung over New York city and other parts of the US north-east as Canada grappled with a series of intense wildfires that have spread from the western provinces to Quebec, with hundreds of forest fires burning.
Virginia shooting | Seven people were shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out outside a theatre in Richmond, where a high school graduation ceremony had just ended, causing hundreds of attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children. A 19-year-old suspect tried to escape on foot but was arrested and would be charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
NZ bilingual road sign row | Plans to introduce bilingual road signs in English and te reo Māori have become a political battleground in New Zealand’s election race. A spokesperson for the centre-right National party said the signs would be confusing, and that “we all speak English, and they should be in English”. The prime minister, Chris Hipkins, called the criticism a form of “dog whistle” posturing to win votes via reactionary race politics.
Origins of masturbation | Evolutionary biologists have traced the origins of masturbation to ancient primates that lived roughly 40m years ago. “For people who think masturbation is wrong, or unnatural in some way, this is perfectly natural behaviour,” said the lead researcher. “It’s part of our healthy repertoire of sexual behaviours.”
In pictures
Kakhovka dam flooding before and after
Satellite images reveal extent of the disaster in Ukraine – see the images.
What they said …
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“Ordinary working people in this country are already bearing the brunt of these rate rises. They shouldn’t also bear the blame for them … We don’t have an inflation problem in our economy because people on the minimum wage are getting paid too much.” - Jim Chalmers
In numbers
LGBTQ+ Americans are facing a state of emergency as states continue targeting them with legislation, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation has declared.
Before bed read
Critics have panned Hannah Gadsby’s Picasso exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum as “disastrous”, with one saying they left feeling “sad and embarrassed”. But is it really that bad?
“This exhibition is an experiment in how to make a [museum show with a] more conversational voice,” said Lisa Small, the museum’s senior curator.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: VERS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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