What we learned: Friday, 16 May
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening. Have a lovely weekend and thanks for reading.
Here were the major developments of the day:
Candidates in the Sydney seat of Bradfield face a nervous weekend with the Australian Electoral Commission confirming there will be no more vote counting until Monday. Meanwhile, independent Zoe Daniel has narrowed Tim Wilson’s lead in the seat of Goldstein, but the Liberal, who says he remains “relaxed”, is still likely to win the seat.
ANZ has lowered its interest rate cut prediction to just two for 2025 and expects a third in 2026, becoming the first major bank to push its prediction back that far.
The Albanese government has advocated for an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage for nearly 3 million workers, ahead of the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) annual decision next month.
Former Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto has been ordered to pay $2.3m in costs after losing a defamation case brought by Liberal MP Moira Deeming.
And Ben Roberts-Smith has lost his appeal against a defamation case ruling, with three justices of the federal court agreeing he was not defamed by Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters when they published reports in 2018 which claimed he had committed war crimes.
Updated
Zoe Daniel trails Tim Wilson by 206 votes
Liberal Tim Wilson’s lead over independent Zoe Daniel in Goldstein has shrunk again to 206 votes.
According to the AEC, there were 256 ballots awaiting processing shortly before 5pm.
But the AEC commissioner, Jeff Pope, said “a few thousand” votes for electorates across the country would come in on Friday, including around 120 from Nairobi:
We will have staff potentially out at Sydney airport at late hours tonight, before midnight, trying to pick up some of these votes.
Pope said it was difficult to estimate how many of these votes could be for tight seats such as Bradfield or Goldstein, but suggested around 30-50.
Postal and overseas votes received before the midnight Friday deadline will be counted on Monday.
If the vote margin is less than 100 after all preferences are distributed, a recount is automatically called.
Pope said candidates could request a recount once all preferences had been distributed, even if the margin was higher than 100.
Updated
