Key events
Treasurer says ‘worst is behind us’ in fight against inflation
Overnight, the treasurer Jim Chalmers said that “the worst is behind us” when it comes to inflation.
Speaking to 7News’ Spotlight program, he said the peak in inflation was now “in the rear view mirror, and we’re not complacent about that”.
But we are confident that, having been through a very difficult time together, better days are ahead.
Asked whether that meant interest rates would come down before a potential election next May, Chalmers said there was “really good reasons for treasurers of either political persuasion not to make predictions about interest rate movements”.
The market expects that there will be interest rate cuts in 2025 … as treasurer, I’ve been very careful not to make those kinds of predictions.
Chalmers said that Australia “came quite close” to recession in the first two quarters of this year, and that growth was “very, very flat” in March and June.
And if I’m honest with you … there were times where we feared that the economy would go backwards. But if you’re asking me, was I worried at the time? Too right I was …
There were some moments in the lead up to the release of [the national accounts] where there was a very substantial risk that the economy might have gone backwards. A lot of relief when we discovered that it hadn’t.
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome back to a new week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage this Monday.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has said that “the worst is behind us” when it comes to inflation. Speaking on 7News’ Spotlight program last night, he said:
When it comes to inflation specifically, the worst is behind us … The peak in inflation is now in the rear-view mirror and we’re not complacent about that, we’re cautious about that, but we are confident that having been through a very difficult time together, better days are ahead.
We’ll bring you more from his interview in a moment.
Meanwhile, King Charles and Queen Camilla are continuing their tour of Australia as part of their first visit to the country since Charles became its reigning monarch.
This morning, the couple will visit the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and the prime minister will host a reception at Parliament House. The king will meet firefighters and bushfire researchers at CSIRO, while Camilla will meet the founder of the charity donations platform GIVIT. There will also be a tour of the National Botanical Gardens.
As always, you can read out with any tips, questions or feedback via X, @emilywindwrites, or you can send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s get started.
