Good morning. It’s a big day in finance today as the Reserve Bank of Australia meets this afternoon to consider raising interest rates, which hasn’t happened since November 2010. And the Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, will hand down the state’s budget.
At the halfway mark of the six-week federal election campaign, the primary vote for both Labor and the Coalition is largely unmoved, despite billions of dollars in election promises being made as voters tune into the contest, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. Support for both the major parties has dropped since the start of the campaign, but Labor is emerging as the party most trusted to manage the cost of living pressures facing Australians. Speaking of, both major parties have policies designed to help people into the property market. The Coalition is spruiking its existing Home Guarantee scheme, while Labor is promoting the party’s new “Help to Buy” scheme, a shared equity program. So, how do the two schemes compare? Meanwhile, election results in closely fought seats could be delayed by a steep rise in postal votes recorded by the Australian Electoral Commission. So far, 1.54m postal vote applications have been made – already higher than those of entire 2019 election.
