Interest rates blame game continues – as it happened

Peter Dutton has pointed the finger at the Albanese government over the RBA’s latest cash rate hike. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

9.19am BST

What we learned today, Wednesday 7 June

That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – thanks so much for joining us. Here is a wrap of the day’s biggest stories:

• Philip Lowe has said struggling Australians can cut back spending or pick up more work to reduce financial stress after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates for the 12th time in just over a year.

• The ACT veterans minister, Emma Davidson, has called for the commonwealth to intervene and end the prosecution of defence whistleblower David McBride, saying his looming trial is “not in the public interest”.

• Aged care minister Anika Wells says the federal government needs to work with the states to deal with issues around dementia, in light of the death of aged care resident Clare Nowland.

• Opposition leader Peter Dutton has downplayed the revelations made by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report which found that at least 11 projects approved by the former government as part of their $2bn community health and hospital program had no lawful authority for the expenditure.

• 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.

• in a Senate inquiry into consultants that continued today, Greens Senator Barbara Pocock said all 72 names of PwC employees involved in the tax avoidance scandal should be made public after the list was provided to the Aenate.

• 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.

• NSW had a record demand for emergency health services during, according to the Bureau of Health Information’s latest quarterly report.

Updated at 10.14am BST

8.48am BST

Severe weather warning for north-east Victoria

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING for HEAVY RAINFALL and DAMAGING WINDS for people in North East and parts of East Gippsland, North Central, Northern Country and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts.

Issued at 5:00 pm Wednesday, 7 June 2023.

Stay informed: https://t.co/JAJ6XztdQ1 pic.twitter.com/NCjGSgfyCB

— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) June 7, 2023