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What we learned; Tuesday 3 February
That’s where we’ll leave things for today. Have a nice evening. Here were our top stories:
The Reserve Bank hiked rates for the first time in more than two years, and signalled there could be more to come, with mortgage holders to bear the brunt of dealing with a sharp and unexpected jump in inflation. The cash rate target has lifted to 3.85%, from 3.6%.
As it coincided with a federal parliamentary sitting day, the RBA’s decision was the source of much of debate in question time. The opposition sought to blame Labor, saying overspending was behind the rate hike, while the government said the rise was expected due to higher-than-expected inflation.
Elsewhere in politics, Sussan Ley extended an offer to the Nationals to reunite the Coalition – with conditions. Ley’s proposal would force the three National senators who defied the shadow cabinet to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws to sit on the backbench for six months.
The Palestine Action Group announced it planned to march against the Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Sydney next week, despite the New South Wales police commissioner extending a restriction on protests.
In other Sydney news, the city’s Mardi Gras party, which attracts thousands of revellers after the city’s famous annual parade, was cancelled due to cost pressures.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it has charged a Melbourne airport worker who allegedly performed a Nazi salute directed towards a group of Jewish school-aged children in one of the terminals yesterday.
And the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, announced a plan to allow GPs to diagnose and prescribe medication for ADHD.
Updated at 03.08 EST
Melbourne passengers warned of delays with some services through new Metro Tunnel affected
Some services running through the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel have been rerouted, on only the tunnel’s second day of operating at full capacity, due to a power fault further up the line.
The Victorian transport department issued a statement just after 6pm, saying buses are replacing trains on the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Sunbury lines between West Footscray and Caulfield stations due to a problem with overhead wires near Armadale.
This suspension is impacting some services running through the Metro Tunnel, the statement said.
Cranbourne/Pakenham passengers are advised to change at State Library or Town Hall to the City Loop and use Frankston Line services to Caulfield.
Those on Sunbury services are advised to switch to a Werribee or Williamstown line service at West Footscray station.
While trains will continue to run between Caulfield and Cranbourne/Pakenham, and Sunbury and West Footscray, delays are likely.
V/Line services on Traralgon and Bairnsdale services are also affected.
Updated at 02.42 EST
Melbourne man charged over allegedly giving Nazi salute to Jewish schoolchildren at Melbourne Airport, AFP says.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says it has charged a Melbourne Airport worker who allegedly performed a Nazi directed towards a group of Jewish school-aged children in one of the terminals yesterday.
In a statement this afternoon, the AFP said the 23-year-old man, from Greenvale in Melbourne’s north, had been summonsed to appear before court on 3 March.
The AFP said it would allege the man left the terminal shortly after the incident and the matter was reported to the federal police.
The AFP said its members reviewed CCTV footage and interviewed witnesses to identify the alleged offender, and attended a Greenvale home yesterday where they arrested the man.
The alleged offender was identified as an airport employee who held an Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC), the AFP said.
The man is due to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court charged with one count of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols or giving Nazi salute, in breach of commonwealth criminal laws.
The AFP has said the offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and is subject to mandatory minimum sentencing provisions.
The man was charged by the AFP’s National Security Investigations (NSI) team, which it said was set up in September last year to “target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of the Jewish community”.
Sydney pro-Palestine rally organisers vow to proceed despite extension of ban
Sticking with New South Wales news, the Palestine Action Group (PAG) has vowed to rally on Friday evening against the Israeli president’s contentious visit to Australia.
Isaac Herzog is due to begin his four-day Australian tour shortly, after an invitation from the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to visit Jewish communities after the Bondi massacre.
Herzog’s arrival was expected to be met with planned protests nationwide from pro-Palestinian groups demonstrating against the civilian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza.
Earlier today, the NSW police commissioner extended a restriction on protests for a fourth time, saying Herzog’s visit was a “factor” in that decision.
The restriction effectively bans protesters being able to march in designated areas without the risk of being arrested because they could be charged with offences such as blocking traffic.
Nevertheless, the organisers of the Sydney have said they will proceed without the protection that taking part in an authorised protest would give participants.
In a statement this afternoon, the PAG said:
In Sydney we will be rallying at Sydney town hall from 5.30pm on Monday 9 February.
It is completely legal to attend this mass, peaceful gathering in opposition to an ongoing genocide.
We call on police to facilitate this peaceful protest and our planned march to NSW Parliament.
Updated at 01.43 EST
Penry Buckley
NSW opposition questions ‘reactionary’ post-Bondi protest laws it supported
The NSW opposition has questioned if controversial laws restricting protests rushed through parliament with Liberal support following the Bondi massacre responded to to the root causes of the attack.
The opposition has today proposed its own reforms, including a crackdown on online grooming by extremists and legislating the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, following the Minns government’s post-Bondi crackdown on guns, protests and hate speech in December. The Nationals voted against the bill because of changes to gun control but said they supported changes to protest laws.
At a press conference this afternoon, the shadow attorney general, Damien Tudehope, said the government’s changes had failed to address “what was it that motivated someone on a Sunday morning to get up and decide to go to Bondi and start shooting people at a Jewish celebration”.
Asked if that means he thinks pro-Palestine protests weren’t a root cause of the antisemitism and radicalisation that led to the attack, Tudehope says the alleged gunmen “weren’t motivated by protests”:
I certainly think that addressing protests is a reactionary approach to what has occurred. But the manner in which protests have built and the manner in which people have developed ideas over a long period of time need addressing.
Asked if she shares Tudehope’s view about the motivations of the alleged Bondi gunmen, the opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, said:
I don’t know what motivated them. Honestly, I couldn’t get into their heads.
ShareSydney’s Mardi Gras party cancelled due to cost pressures, new CEO says
Daisy Dumas
Sydney’s Mardi Gras party, which attracts thousands of revellers after the city’s famous annual parade, has been cancelled.
The event was due to take place on the evening of the 28 February and was billed as one of the festival’s highlights, historically drawing crowds of about 10,000 people.
In an update posted on the festival’s website a short time ago, the Mardi Gras chief executive, Jesse Matheson, said the event had been “paused” because of growing costs and the loss of this year’s headline act.
Last year, I was appointed CEO and tasked with renewing and reimagining the festival following two years of significant financial loss. A major contributor to that loss has been the Mardi Gras PARTY, which has run at a deficit every year since 2020.
He described the party as the festival’s “biggest challenge” and said the Mardi Gras PARTY was an approximately $2m event that had become more expensive to deliver.
He said:
After reviewing the Mardi Gras PARTY’s financial performance, capacity constraints, community feedback, and changing demographics of attendees, it became clear that the event in its traditional format was no longer fit for purpose or aligned with our future vision to be a celebration event for our entire LGBTIQA+ community.
The move had been compounded by the loss of its headline act over the Christmas break, he said, adding:
Instead, we will focus on supporting the incredible community-led events taking place across the city on Parade night.
This has been heartbreaking – but I believe it is the right decision for our community and for the future of Mardi Gras … For those disappointed, from the bottom of my heart, please accept my heartfelt apology.
Updated at 02.02 EST
Liberal frontbencher says party needs to focus on winning back city voters
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has acknowledged there is “fragmentation” on the “right” of politics, after weeks of infighting between his party and the Nationals.
Bragg has been interviewed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, after opposition leader Sussan Ley said the three National senators who defied the shadow cabinet to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws would be forced to sit on the backbench for six months under her offer to reunite the Coalition.
Bragg suggested the working arrangement between the Liberals and Nationals could look different in the future, as he said his party needed to focus on winning back city voters.
He said:
There is fragmentation in the right, we have to be honest about that.
We need to be prepared to work differently. The fact is that the Liberal party now holds less than 10 of the 90 urban seats.
We are a highly urbanised population in Australia. Most people live in urban seats. If we are extinct in the city, we are extinct. We need to be very clear eyed that that is our mission- to win back the trust of the people who live in largely cities.
Bragg also tried to pin today’s cash rate increase on the Labor government’s fiscal policy, something the opposition has been trying to do all day.
The Reserve Bank attributed its decision to “private demand growing more quickly than expected” and did not pinpoint government spending as a factor.
Andrew Bragg at a press conference at Parliament House. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 01.08 EST
Nino Bucci
More firearms testing in Victorian high country as Freeman search continues
Police will again test firearms in an area of the Victorian high country where they are searching for fugitive Dezi Freeman.
Freeman allegedly shot dead two police officers and wounded a third in Porepunkah on 26 August.
In a statement, police confirmed detectives would conduct firearms testing within the Mount Buffalo national park search area for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon.
Similar firearms testing conducted in November helped inform police ahead of the major five-day search for Freeman that started on Monday.
A single gunshot was reported to police about two hours after Freeman fled into the bush at the rear of his property. Police believe it may have been the sound of Freeman killing himself.
The first two days of the search have been completed with no trace of Freeman being publicly reported by police. Police do not believe that he is alive, if he remains in the area, saying that the search of Mount Buffalo is for his body.
But they are also considering two other scenarios: that Freeman has fled the region and is being harboured elsewhere, or that he has fled the area unassisted.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.
Share
Catie McLeod
Hi, I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day. The RBA governor, Michelle Bullock, is still taking questions from journalists in Sydney.
While it won’t be much comfort to mortgage holders, she’s said that while today’s cash rate hike has “come across quite negatively”, Australia is “actually in a really good position”.
And, as usual, Bullock has been reluctant to offer forward guidance on the potential for future rate hikes.
She’s said she can’t confirm whether the central bank is going to hike the cash rate – which guides interest rates set by banks – again next month.
But she says the central bank’s board is determined to bring inflation into its target range of 2-3%.
The overall measure of inflation recorded by the government – the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – rose 3.8% in the 12 months to December 2025, up from a 3.4% rise in the 12 months to November 2025.
Bullock hasn’t ruled out back-to-back rate hikes and says the board is “determined” to bring inflation back into the target band. However, she says:
This is not a science, it’s a bit of an art, really, and there’s so many things that can push you off course.
Could we do a lot of rate rises and bring inflation back down very quickly? Possibly, I don’t know. But it might have big implications for the unemployment rate and the economy.
And the bottom line – the strategy really hasn’t changed here. We are still trying to bring inflation down and keep employment as strong as we can, as close to sustainable full employment as we can.
Updated at 00.14 EST
Krishani Dhanji
Thanks for joining me on what has been a very busy day on the blog!
There’s plenty more to come, and I’ll leave you with the lovely Catie McLeod for the rest of the afternoon. See you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
Well that was a LONG question time, with questions split between the Liberals and the rest of the crossbench, who received more questions (although almost all of the extra questions went to the Nationals anyway).
Despite all the hullabaloo around seating, the opposition benches are still looking very similar to the way they did before the split.
The Liberals and Nationals, were at least on a unity ticket in focusing all their questions to the government on inflation and interest rates, and tried to push Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese to apologise for the rate rise.
Labor were clearly trying their best to practice some zingers on the Coalition split – here were a couple of them.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson and Nationals MP Alison Penfold were both booted out of the chamber.
Independent MP Zali Steggall asked the government if it would implement a royal commission into femicide and family violence. Social services minister Tanya Plibersek said that experts and frontline workers have said another inquiry does not need to be done.
ShareCatie McLeod
RBA chief addresses media
The governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Michele Bullock, says she empathises with mortgage holders but defended today’s decision to lift the cash rate.
Bullock has been taking questions from journalists in Sydney after the central bank hiked interest rates for the first time in over two years.
The RBA monetary policy board announced on Tuesday at the end of its two-day meeting that the cash rate target would lift to 3.85%, from 3.6%.
The decision means mortgage holders will bear the brunt of dealing with an unexpected jump in inflation that occured in the second half of 2025.
Asked about the effect on mortgage holders facing higher repayments, Bullock said:
I understand they’re disappointed. I do understand that for mortgage holders, this isn’t a great outcome
Having said that, and I have just said this in the past – what’s also not great for them or for anyone else is if inflation remains elevated because every time they go to the shop, every time they go to buy their groceries, every time they go to get personal services, medical, if inflation is high, that’s going to keep going up.
I empathise with them, but I think when we were looking back at what was going on last year … the issues were all about the downside risks, particularly the world economy.
Some of these things have just not come to pass.
Bullock said consumer demand had risen in response to last year’s rate cuts more quickly than the RBA board had anticipated.
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Michele Bullock. Photograph: Hollie Adams/ReutersShare
Updated at 00.01 EST
After a final dixer to Anthony Albanese, question time is over for the day.
Bowen says wholesale energy prices are dropping
You might note that question time is going long, well we’re still going …
Nationals MP, Sam Birrell asks when Australians will get their $275 reduction to their energy bills that was promised by Labor back in 2022. The promise is long gone, and Labor has had to admit so (many times before).
Climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, races through his answer and says wholesale energy prices are falling:
Every single Australian saw wholesale prices fall by 44% in the last quarter of last year. We have more work to do to make sure that flows through.
O’Brien pushes Chalmers to rule out further rate rises
Ted O’Brien takes to the dispatch box next and asks the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, whether he’ll guarantee that there will be no more interest rate rises this year.
Chalmers says O’Brien should know by now that the Reserve Bank makes its own decisions.
He’s also at pains to repeat that the RBA statement does not mention government spending.
They want to pretend the government sets interest rates. Well, that is obviously dishonest, of course, but we do work as hard as we can to get on top of inflation … because we do understand that people are under pressure
Independent MP Nicolette Boele has a question
She wants to know when will the government implement the Human Rights Commission’s anti-racism framework
The framework was commissioned by the government and handed to Labor in November 2024.
Anthony Albanese doesn’t answer the actual question on whether the government will implement the framework, but says antisemitism requires “constant vigilance”.
We do need to deal with a comprehensive response not just to antisemitism, but to building social cohesion as well. I think the attack that we saw in Perth [at the Invasion Day rally] is an example of something that the authorities are dealing with.
This doesn’t answer the question. Boele stands up to make a point of order on relevance, but the PM’s time to answer is up.
Updated at 23.37 EST
Chalmers says Ley targeting treasury secretary over RBA rate hike ‘reflects a level of desperation’
‘Level of desperation’ in Liberals, says Chalmers
The Liberals are solely focused on the interest rates today, with the rate hike a bitter pill to swallow for most households (and a big challenge for the government)
Sussan Ley is back at the dispatch box and asks what it says that the “Prime Minister’s hand-picked Secretary of the Treasury, Jenny Wilkinson” also voted on the RBA board to lift rates.
Jim Chalmers is wholly unimpressed at Ley’s decision to bring Wilkinson into question time.
I think it reflects a level of desperation on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition that she would go after a wonderful public servant in the way she just has … I think it is entirely inappropriate – entirely inappropriate – for those opposite to try to drag in to this one of the finest public servants that this country has ever seen.
He then points out that there are now four women heading four of the major economic institutions in Australia, having just announced Sarah Court as the ASIC chair.
Updated at 23.30 EST