Good afternoon. After the Reserve Bank hiked the cash rate once again, plenty of people have had something to say. The bank’s governor, Philip Lowe, says the rebounding property market was among the reasons behind the decision to lift the cash rate to an 11-year high of 3.85%.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, isn’t happy about it and wants the Albanese government to step in and reverse the RBA’s decision. Our regular columnist, Greg Jericho warns the RBA board is completely “lost to logic” and says we should be “thankful” the decision to change rates will be taken out of its hands.
In other headlines, the Northern Territory government has given a green light for fracking in the Beetaloo basin and two police officers have been stabbed in South Australia.
Top news
Interest rate rises | The RBA governor, Philip Lowe, told a dinner in Perth that April’s rate pause gave the board “more time to assess the pulse of the economy” before Tuesday’s surprise hike. Since the April meeting, the RBA had seen evidence that “asset prices – including the exchange rate and housing prices – are responding to changes in the interest rate outlook”, he said.
Beetaloo Basin | The NT government says it is satisfied the recommendations of an independent inquiry into fracking have been met, clearing the way for gas production and the expansion of wells in the area. The announcement allows gas production in the region between Katherine and Tennant Creek, a move environmental organisations and scientists have warned will have an unacceptable effect on the climate.
Republic debate | Despite being a “lifelong republican”, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he will pledge his allegiance to King Charles III. Albanese also told conservative broadcaster Piers Morgan that a referendum over Australia becoming a republic is not “imminent”.
Missing Queensland man | The search for missing fisher Kevin Darmody has ended in tragedy after human remains were discovered inside a crocodile found upstream from where Darmody disappeared. Search crews had been trying to find the 65-year-old Laura man since Saturday.
South Australia | Two police officers have been stabbed and an alleged offender shot dead in an incident at Crystal Brook, a small community about 200km north of Adelaide. Police said an occupant at a house allegedly stabbed the two officers. The officers shot the alleged offender and he died at the scene.
Hydro blowout | The multibillion-dollar Snowy Hydro 2.0 development will be delayed by up to two years and face another cost blowout. There has been a series of problems with the project, including a tunnel-boring machine becoming stuck about 70 metres underground.
Police raid | A Western Australian journalist who was taking photos of the removal of ancient rock art from the site of a fertiliser plant says she was repeatedly stopped by police and eventually had her images seized during a raid. The police action comes amid a crackdown on environmental activists in the state.
Michael Palin’s wife dies | The actor announced his wife, Helen, has passed away, describing her as “the bedrock of my life”. The Monty Python star said she died “peacefully”. The pair had celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary last month.
Tucker Carlson | A leaked video published on Tuesday showed the fired Fox News host describing an unnamed woman as “yummy”, referring to his fans as “post-menopausal” and attempting to discuss a sexual technique with British journalist Piers Morgan. Carlson was suddenly fired by Fox News last week, in the aftermath of the network’s $787.5m settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over its broadcast of Donald Trump’s electoral fraud lies.
In pictures
Australian subjects not travelling to the United Kingdom this weekend to see the coronation of King Charles III were offered an approximation of the experience in Sydney on Wednesday. Days before the monarch’s coronation in Westminster Abbey, Madame Tussauds has unveiled the waxwork of the new king outside Sydney’s Queen Victoria building. The new figure was accompanied by wax family members William, Kate, and Harry. Read more here.
What they said …
“I’m not sure that 11 interest rate rises in 12 months is smashing inflation. I’m certain it’s smashing families.”
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, on the RBA’s decision to lift the cash rate. Andrews also blamed the RBA for the state’s huge pandemic debt.
In numbers
You can check here how much your student debt will go up by – and how long it will take to pay off.
Before bed read
Why would Nick Cave want to attend King Charles’s coronation? Because it will probably be a very “weird” affair.
Writing in his newsletter the Red Hand Files, in reply to letters from three Australians and one Briton, he wrote: “What I am also not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age. Not just the most important, but the strangest, the weirdest.”
Daily word game
Teasing your brain helps slow memory decline, apparently. It’s also fun. So have a crack at Wordiply – you have five attempts to get the longest word, including today’s starter word.
You have five attempts to get the longest word, including the starter word. Today’s starter word is LOWS. Play Wordiply.
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