Key events
Mortgage holders may have to wait longer for an interest rate reprieve, following stronger than expected jobs figures, reports Australian Associated Press.
The Commonwealth Bank has shifted its forecast for when the Reserve Bank will lower the official cash rate, now saying a 0.25 percentage point reduction will happen in December, as opposed to previous predictions of a November rate cut.
The revised forecast followed the unemployment rate staying at 4.2% for August, with the number of jobs added to the market almost double what economists had predicted.
“The recent strength in employment growth coupled with still relatively hawkish rhetoric from the RBA governor means we now see December as the more likely month for the start of normalising the cash rate,” Commonwealth’s head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said.
“We expect the RBA will commence an easing cycle before it declares we have hit full employment given policy is currently restrictive.
“Not all the ducks have lined up for a November rate cut.”
The Reserve Bank will meet on Tuesday to determine whether to cut the official cash rate of 4.35% or leave it on hold.
Lambie says Rex Patrick will lead her federal Senate ticket in SA
Sarah Basford Canales
Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has announced her former upper house colleague, Rex Patrick, will lead the minor party’s ticket in South Australia in the upcoming federal election.
In a statement on Friday morning, Lambie said she shared the same values as Patrick, who was a senator between 2017 and 2022, and Australia needed him back in Canberra.
Lambie said:
Rex is known as the ‘Transparency Warrior’ for good reason, he works hard to hold the government accountable. He should be in the Senate where he can continue to represent the interests of everyday Australians.
Rex’s departure from the Senate was a loss for all of us, but particularly South Australia. We need to get Rex back into the Senate so SA once again has a sensible voice representing them in Canberra.
Since leaving the federal parliament at the last election, Patrick has ruffled feathers in Canberra for his work as an avid freedom of information campaigner.
One of his most recent fights in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is to prevent a common practice of shredding documents once a minister leaves office. The act prevents attempts at successfully attaining documents through FoI requests.
In his interview on 9, John Howard said political events seen in the US showed its system had major deficiencies compared to Australia’s.
“Everything we’re witnessing in America tells us is that their political system is far inferior to ours,” he said.
“In a parliamentary system, Donald Trump would never have got to the leadership of the Republicans, and I don’t think Kamala Harris would ever have got to the leadership of the Democrats.
“We wouldn’t have gone through the agony the Democrats went through regarding Joe Biden.
“They have a different system. And my take, my very strong view, is that a parliamentary system is much better than a presidential system.”
Howard takes aim at Trump
Former Liberal prime minister John Howard has taken aim at Donald Trump, describing him as “not compatible with democracy”.
Howard, who took Australia into Afghanistan and the Iraq war alongside the United States during his time in office, said the Republican candidate’s refusal to accept the result of the 2020 election meant he would not want Trump to win this time.
“In normal circumstances, I would unhesitatingly favour a Republican victory, but there are reasons that prevent me doing that on this occasion,” Howard said in an interview with 9News.
“In other words, I think his refusal to accept the result of the last election and various attempts to overturn that result not compatible with democracy.
“When you play the democratic game, you’ve got to accept the democratic result.”
“The choice the American people must make is a difficult choice – I’m glad I don’t have a vote there, because I think it would be very hard,” Howard said.
“I’m not impressed with Kamala Harris. I don’t think she’s got a very good idea of how to run the American economy.”
“I worry that she might lead an administration that will spend far too much, and some of that expenditure will be irresponsible … she leads a party that, generally speaking, favours far too much government intervention for my liking.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our Friday rolling news blog. Emily Wind will be along soon to bring you all the breaking stories of the day but before that this is Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories.
After a week in which a Guardian Australia investigation has revealed the huge profits being made by online real estate portals from charging sellers, the former chair of Australia’s competition law enforcer says he believes the regulator should consider investigating the behaviour of the market’s leading portal, realestate.com.au, for potential anti-competitive behaviour. Rod Sims told us the behaviour of realestate.com.au was “well worth considering under section 45 of the Competition and Consumer Act”.
Former Liberal prime minister John Howard has taken aim at Donald Trump, describing him as “not compatible with democracy”. Howard, who took Australia into Afghanistan and the Iraq war alongside the United States during his time in office, said the Republican candidate’s refusal to accept the result of the 2020 election meant he would not want Trump to win this time. More on this soon.
The Albanese government has announced a range of measures to combat cost of living pressures, including what it claims is the the first back-to-back increase to Commonwealth rent assistance ever and the indexation of pensions and payments.
In less good news for households, the Commonwealth Bank has pushed back its forecast for when the Reserve Bank will lower the official cash rate, now saying a 0.25 percentage point reduction will happen in December, as opposed to previous predictions of a November rate cut. More coming up.
