What we learned today, Tuesday 3 May
There was a tingle of anticipation about today’s cash rate announcement, and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Philip Lowe managed to surprise quite a few people. Here are the highlights from this Tuesday in the fourth week of the six-week campaign:
- The big news was the RBA putting up the cash rate in the middle (almost exactly the middle) of an election campaign. That decision will supercharge the barney over cost of living pressures.
- Here’s how a rate rise might affect your mortgage.
- The latest Guardian Essential poll found Labor is still ahead of the Coalition – but it’s complicated.
- Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack isn’t ruling out having another crack. Meanwhile, the Greens are confident about winning a second lower house seat at the May election.
- It’s set to get cold in the eastern states – as in, “polar cold”.
- In terrifying news out of the United States, the supreme court has “provisionally” voted to overturn Roe v Wade.
- And in disturbing news, Stephanie Convery got up close and personal with that raw chicken curry.
The fallout from the cash rate (and maybe the curry) is sure to continue tomorrow, and Amy Remeikis will steer you through the choppy waters. And I’ll see you again tomorrow afternoon!
Updated
There is a “silver lining” for some people, Chalmers says, but it’s not “massive”. He says:
There are 3.4m households who have got mortgages. That’s not a small number. Yes, the silver lining in an interest rate rise is for people who live off their savings.
The usual rule of thumb is for every $20,000 you’ve got saved, for an interest rate rise of this magnitude, it is $50 a year. It is not a massive amount of money, but it is better than nothing. That’s the silver lining, but the decision taken today will make life harder for millions of Australian families.
