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    Chalmers’ rebates not helping inflation, RBA warns

    Federal and state government energy bill subsidies will not help get inflation under control, and big-spending public sector budgets are making it worse, the bank says.

    • Updated
    • Michael Read
    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen ta the opening of SunDrive’s manufacturing plant in Kurnell. November 1, 2023. Photo: Rhett Wyman / SMH

    Cannon-Brookes, Turnbull-backed solar maker cuts staff, replaces CEO

    SunDrive, which also counts Blackbird as an investor, is restructuring its business at the same time as it courts global partners to expand its operations.

    • Ben Potter

    Inflation to linger until 2026, RBA warns

    A surge in state and federal government spending means inflation won’t return to the RBA’s target band until December 2026, later than previously forecast.

    • Michael Read

    No rate cuts before Christmas, says RBA governor

    Michele Bullock has declared “near-term interest rate cuts are not on the agenda”, warning the economy remained too hot and ruling out decreasing the cash rate before Christmas.

    • Michael Read

    ‘Wildly bizarre’: Qld Labor’s petrol price pledge panned

    Queensland’s extraordinary bid to open publicly owned petrol stations was panned by industry and economists.

    • James Hall and Angela Macdonald-Smith

    Farmers cottoning on to threat to $4.2b industry

    Cotton exports have nearly doubled recently but an increased threat from diseases has threatened to wipe-out crops.

    • James Hall

    Opinion & Analysis

    The big risk in Kamala Harris’ surprise choice for VP

    Tim Walz’s down-to-earth language was transformed into the equivalent of a political magic wand, but there’s a risk in overlooking Josh Shapiro in the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania.

    The RBA is not failing in its mission to keep inflation under control

    Readers’ letters on the Reserve Bank and interest rates; bans on uranium mining; the future of a republic; smoke and mirrors in Victoria; challenges for private health companies; and marvellous maggots.

    Contributor

    Populist surge makes it essential to spread gains of migration

    Conflict over migration is now breaking out into the open in Western nations. But excessive limits would have a high cost too.

    Tanveer Ahmed

    Columnist

    Tanveer Ahmed

    Future Made in Australia is already running off the rails

    The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.

    John Kehoe

    Economics editor

    John Kehoe
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    More From Today

    Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, at a campaign rally on Tuesday.

    The big risk in Kamala Harris’ surprise choice for VP

    Tim Walz’s down-to-earth language was transformed into the equivalent of a political magic wand, but there’s a risk in overlooking Josh Shapiro in the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania.

    • Jennifer Hewett
    Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

    The RBA is not failing in its mission to keep inflation under control

    Readers’ letters on the Reserve Bank and interest rates; bans on uranium mining; the future of a republic; smoke and mirrors in Victoria; challenges for private health companies; and marvellous maggots.

    Anti-migration protesters during riots outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, England, at the weekend. The hotel is being used as an asylum hotel.

    Populist surge makes it essential to spread gains of migration

    Conflict over migration is now breaking out into the open in Western nations. But excessive limits would have a high cost too.

    • Tanveer Ahmed
    An industry-wide approach makes the government less vulnerable to increasing criticism it is gambling taxpayer funds on the success or failure of specific companies.

    Future Made in Australia is already running off the rails

    The Albanese government has fallen into the trap of trying to achieve political wins at high economic cost. And nobody is stopping them.

    • John Kehoe

    Yesterday

    David Rowe.

    RBA holds prudent course on rates and inflation

    Australia’s central bank is rightly refusing to take the soft option that would risk forcing it to confront less palatable choices later. The political debate needs to face up to this.

    • The AFR View
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    RBA governor Michele Bullock in Sydney on Tuesday.

    RBA warns rate cuts are a no-go this year

    Why interest rates won’t come down this year after all. They might even go up.

    • Jennifer Hewett
    Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Michelle Bullock during yesterday’s news conference.

    Bullock talks tough, but board can’t stomach raising rates

    The RBA has squibbed again this month. With long-run credibility on the line, it needs to focus on getting inflation inside the target band.

    • Richard Holden

    Rise in interest rates only narrowly avoided

    A rate increase was closer than many had assumed at the RBA meeting, and a more hawkish-sounding Bullock said it “was a very serious consideration”.

    • John Kehoe
    The central bank still has to fix a domestic inflationary problem, its latest monetary statement has emphasised.

    RBA at odds with the market and the world

    A panicked market is convinced the central bank faced a simple choice to prepare for interest rate cuts. Its staffers clearly don’t see it that way as the bank laid out the case for increases.

    • Jonathan Shapiro

    This Month

    Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

    Markets mayhem jangles investor nerves

    Why are markets are suddenly tumbling as sentiment turns down – and is this the start of something bigger?

    • Jennifer Hewett
    Last week’s Consumer Price Index reading is unlikely to be bad enough to prompt Michele Bullock’s Reserve Bank into a 14th increase in its benchmark policy rate.

    Recession fears no reason for RBA rate cut

    It remains a long bow to suggest the sell-off by rattled investors heralds a hard landing in the US economy and a global recession.

    • The AFR View
    Woodside Energy’s Browse project is off the coast of Broome. It has already scrapped plans for an onshore LNG processing facility.

    Woodside’s $30b Browse LNG project faces EPA knockback threat

    The recommendation is not final and could be reversed after further negotiations, but a final rejection would be a blow to Labor’s long-term gas strategy.

    • Ben Potter, Tom Rabe and Brad Thompson
    There is no need for the RBA to have another stab at raising rates.

    RBA must say no to the Recessionistas out there

    The Reserve Bank is taking its dual mandate seriously and seems to be ignoring the incessant clamouring for another rise in the cash rate.

    • Craig Emerson
    A sudden deterioration in the US jobs market could give the Reserve Bank of Australia confidence that it’s done enough to slow the economy.

    US recession fears may give RBA confidence to cut sooner

    A sudden deterioration in the US jobs market could give the Reserve Bank of Australia confidence that it’s done enough to slow the economy.

    • Michael Read
    Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock.

    AFR readers want RBA to hold, divided on saving Rex

    Almost two-thirds of readers surveyed by The Australian Financial Review think the Reserve Bank of Australia should hold rates steady on Tuesday.

    • Patrick Durkin
    Advertisement
    Treasurer Jim Chalmers and incoming Productivity Commission chairwoman Danielle Wood at the government’s Jobs and Skills Summit in 2022.

    Chalmers makes Productivity Commission less productive

    The government’s independent economic adviser has only one active inquiry, which former officials say is extremely low by historical standards.

    • John Kehoe
    New home starts are down 45 per cent from mid-2021. The economy is struggling and now household spending is under severe pressure.

    ASX valuations mask grim reality of a softening economy

    Sharemarket investors need to factor in that central banks cut interest rates when economies slow and profit growth splutters.

    • Simon Evans
    Novo Nordisk Australia boss Cem Ozenc says there is enthusiasm in government for Wegovy.

    Ozempic maker wants taxpayer subsidy for new Wegovy drug

    Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk pulled in more than $600 million from Australia last year but reported just $17 million in profit here.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    The RBA cash rate is too low to ensure inflation sustainably returns to the middle of the 2 per cent to 3 per cent target band.

    No smoking gun to lift rates, but RBA should still pull trigger

    The underlying dynamics of the Australian economy are very different to the US. The cash rate is still too low to ensure inflation sustainably returns to target.

    • Warren Hogan
    AFR

    Debt and deficits may cause financial crisis, RBA research boss warns

    Investors could decide government debt is no longer a safe asset, causing financial calamity, RBA research boss John Simon has warned.

    • Michael Read