What we learned, Tuesday 5 May
Thanks for joining us today. Here’s a reminder of the day’s top stories:
The Reserve Bank has increased its official interest rate to 4.35%, as prices rise at their fastest pace since 2023.
The Reserve Bank of Australian governor, Michele Bullock, says “Australians are poorer” because of the energy crisis linked to the Middle East conflict.
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the RBA’s decision to raise the cash rate will “make it tougher” for Australians already paying a “hefty price” for the war in the Middle East.
The antisemitism royal commission has continued, with the inquiry hearing from a witness about children “saying heil Hitler and putting up their arm in a salute”.
Victoria has recorded a surplus for the first time since the pandemic but the state’s financial recovery remains uncertain with debt forecast to near $200bn in coming years amid global uncertainty.
NSW police have confirmed the deaths of three people including two Marine Rescue volunteers, as the search operation after a boating incident in waters off Ballina overnight is suspended.
Four Australians are stuck on a luxury cruise ship stranded off the coast of Cape Verde after a suspected outbreak of a rare respiratory virus killed three people, left three others seriously ill and forced nearly 150 people from across the world to isolate onboard.
The search for a missing Australian hiker in the Canadian wilderness has been suspended with no further search activity planned after authorities spent six days scouring the region from air and ground to no avail.
Days out from Farrer byelection, Pauline Hanson has suggested she may step down from the Senate and run for the House of Representatives at the next election.
Updated
Northern Great Barrier Reef had a summer of coral bleaching and cyclone damage, says agency
The Great Barrier Reef’s northern area between Cairns and Cooktown suffered a region-wide coral bleaching event this summer as well as impacts from two tropical cyclones.
In a “summer snapshot“ report released this afternoon by the Great Barrier Reef Management Authority, the agency said 28 of 79 reefs surveyed in the northern region had recorded “prevalent bleaching” that was “likely a cumulative effect of heat stress and freshwater impacts from flood plumes, particularly on inshore and mid-shelf reefs”.
Physical damage from Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which crossed Queensland’s far north coast in March as a category four system, had been observed as far south as Cairns more than 400km to the south.
Cyclone Narelle and Cyclone Koji, a weak category one system that crossed north of Bowen in January, had also sent flood plumes into the reefs lagoons. Fresh water and nutrients can both be damaging for coral reefs.
The agency said it was still assessing the impacts from the summer.
Updated
