The day that was – Wednesday 31 May
We will wrap up the live blog there for today.
Here’s what made the news today:
Legislation to support the constitutional referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament passed the House of Representatives 121-25.
Some Coalition MPs voted against the bill to allow them to provide information on the no case in a pamphlet to be issued by the government.
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Phillip Lowe fronted Senate estimates where he said the bank was committed to bringing down inflation, as new data showed inflation rose to 6.8% in April while underlying price pressures eased.
Lowe said it was easier for the RBA to raise the cash rate than for politicians to raise taxes or cut spending
He also said one of the drivers of Australia’s skyrocketing rents and the housing crisis was more people living alone or moving out of home, and encouraged people to go into share housing.
The US warned Australia that the Brereton report may trigger a provision that bans US assistance to units linked to alleged gross violations of human rights.
The South Australian parliament passed rushed through anti-protest laws after a 15-hour debate.
The Greens have called for the PwC scandal to be investigated by the new national anti-corruption commission when it begins on 1 July, however the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said the matter has already been referred to the AFP for investigation.
We’ll be back with you again tomorrow with all the latest news. Until then, enjoy your evening.
Updated
Greens skeptical over NDIS budgetary savings
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has expressed some, shall we say, scepticism about the government’s plan to save billions by spending millions.
Back on budget day, the government revealed it would spend $73m on (to put it simplistically) efficiencies within the National Disability Insurance Scheme. These efficiencies would lead to $7.2bn in savings, they said, part of a broader $15bn savings effort.
In Senate estimates, Steele-John said that was rather a large figure.
There are fears the “savings” are more like “service cuts”.
The NDIS actuary, David Gifford, said he would be “hesitant to draw a direct link” between the expenditure and the saving, while the NDIA chief, Rebecca Falkingham, said the maths worked because it was about “avoiding future growth” in the scheme, which has been ballooning. She said:
We want to have a better planning process … we don’t want a situation where every single plan is overspent because that means every initial plan was incorrect. We think we absolutely can reduce that growth in the scheme longer term.
That did not appear to ease Steele-John’s scepticism.
Falkingham also revealed the agency had not been consulted before a national cabinet decision to reduce the growth in the NDIS from an expected 14% to 8%.
Updated
