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![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Luca_Ittimani.png\")
Luca Ittimani<\/p>\n
RBA warns government spending must be targeted ahead of budget<\/p>\n
A week out from the federal budget, the RBA governor has warned the government to be \u201ccareful\u201d its spending doesn\u2019t add to inflation.<\/p>\n
Michele Bullock has repeatedly avoided commenting on government spending in recent years. But when asked today, she told reporters the private sector and the public sector would both need to cut their spending to avoiding locking in higher prices set by businesses.<\/p>\n
During her press conference, Bullock suggested that extended to cost-of-living relief:<\/p>\n
double quotation markThe extent to which government make up the shortfalls for households by giving them more money, it makes it harder to dampen demand \u2026<\/p>\n
Fiscal policy has many more things that it can do but it has to be careful, I guess, in the sense that it needs to be targeting where it\u2019s most needed \u2026 You can\u2019t just go out there and add to demand.<\/p>\n
Bullock said there was a role for governments specifically to cut back on spending.<\/p>\n
double quotation markWhen governments are spending a lot of money and we\u2019re running up against capacity constraints, then they do need to think about whether or not there\u2019s ways they can help the inflation problem by looking for ways to constrain demand.<\/p>\n
However, Bullock was quick to say the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, was on the same page, adding she was not calling for fiscal settings to take the lead on fighting inflation and state government spending also played a role.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.35 EDT<\/p>\n \u2018Jews get abused and that\u2019s just the way it is,\u2019 witness tells antisemitism inquiry<\/p>\n Kovi Paneth told the royal commission he was worried about the \u201cnormalisation\u201d of antisemitism after he was abused on a train and nobody intervened:<\/p>\n double quotation markIn Australia, Jews get abused and that\u2019s just the way it is. And that\u2019s the part that was very, very upsetting to me, in that it\u2019s just \u2026 normalised in society and quite acceptable.<\/p>\n He said his daughter was asked if she was a \u201cdirty effing Jew\u201d while in a bar. She tried to record the man, then his friend grabbed the phone and said \u201cignore him, he\u2019s drunk, I\u2019m sure not all Jews are dirty effing dogs\u201d.<\/p>\n He said he wouldn\u2019t let his wife or children walk alone at night now:<\/p>\n double quotation markSince October 7, antisemitism has gotten real \u2026 it\u2019s gotten violent.<\/p>\n AAO\u2019s relative was killed in 7 October attacks on Israel, and since then she hasn\u2019t worn anything that publicly identifies her as a Jew.<\/p>\n She told the inquiry she had been at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena, when a woman they didn\u2019t know said to them that \u201cthe job that they did in Bondi wasn\u2019t good enough, and that Jews are the worst, and they kill babies\u201d. \u201cIt was very deep-seated, the hatred,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The woman would not have known she was Jewish, she said. She gave a statement to the police, who removed the woman from the tennis.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.34 EDT<\/p>\n Vic Alhadeff tells royal commission antisemitism is \u2018front and centre in our ecosystem\u2019<\/p>\n Returning to the antisemitisim royal commission, Dr Vic Alhadeff (you can see his impressive achievements here<\/a>) posed this question to the inquiry: \u201cIs it too late to repair the fracturing of the social fabric in this country?\u201d<\/p>\n He listed a range of ways in which Jewish people have been vilified or made to feel unsafe.<\/p>\n Antisemitism, he said, had morphed from being \u201cat the edges\u201d of society to \u201cfront and centre in our ecosystem\u201d.<\/p>\n He said he had met with three high school students who had posted on Twitter that it was time to \u201cburn the Jews\u201d and to \u201cgas the Jews\u201d, and had \u201cposted a photograph of themselves with their arms in the form \u2026 of a swastika\u201d.<\/p>\n He took along a photo of his grandparents, who were murdered in the Holocaust, in order to educate them.<\/p>\n He also confronted a priest who told a school congregation that Jews were \u201ca jealous people\u201d, referred a driver whose number plate had Nazi connotations to the police, and experienced road rage from a man who called him an \u201ceffing South African Jew\u201d.<\/p>\n He also told the commission about going to the Sydney Writers\u2019 festival last year and hearing an audience member asking about the \u201celephant in the room \u2026 the Jewish tentacles\u201d, with no one rebutting that trope.<\/p>\n He also talked about his work campaigning for tougher anti-hate laws<\/a>, and his disappointment in the \u201csilence\u201d and indifference from an interfaith group on the Bondi attack. One member, he said, held him responsible for Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza:<\/p>\n double quotation markThis issue goes to one of the issues which is information a lot of the antisemitism which has been rocking this country \u2026 for the last two and a half years, holding Jewish Australians accountable for what is taking place on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n Jewish Australians feared there would be \u201canother Bondi\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n The royal commission was an opportunity to push antisemitism \u201cback to the margin\u201d and repair \u201csocial cohesion\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.32 EDT<\/p>\n RBA governor says \u2018we still have no idea\u2019 when Middle East war will be over<\/p>\n Asked by Guardian Australia\u2019s Patrick Commins about the chance the RBA\u2019s prediction is too optimistic, Michele Bullock said:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt may well be, certainly. When I stood here at March, I think the war was maybe a week or two old and everyone was thinking it\u2019ll be over in a couple of weeks. It isn\u2019t. We\u2019re still here. We still have no idea.<\/p>\n The bank was alert to the chance of a bigger rise in unemployment and would \u201cwait and see\u201d as it considered another interest rate rise, Bullock said.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe don\u2019t know one reason for deciding to increase interest rates, to give ourselves space now to sit and see what happens, whether the baseline turns out or it\u2019s an adverse scenario. That was part of the thinking, I think, in terms of increase now and then give yourself space.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.13 EDT<\/p>\n Bullock stressed that low-income Australians are the ones most affected by inflation:<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe people who are most impacted by inflation are the most vulnerable. The people on the lowest incomes, they\u2019re the ones who they don\u2019t have savings, they don\u2019t have earnings from interest or anything like that \u2026 they\u2019re just getting hit by inflation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.09 EDT<\/p>\n Price rises due to global fuel price shock \u2018completely out of our control\u2019: Bullock<\/p>\n Bullock says prices will rise regardless of what the central bank does with interest rates.<\/p>\n She says Australia\u2019s economy has been irreparably hit by the global fuel price shock, caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. She added:<\/p>\n double quotation markThese interest rate rises are not going to do anything for inflation in the next six months. That\u2019s done and dusted. We know that prices are coming through.<\/p>\n Bullock said the rate rises aimed to prevent further secondary price rises and offer households and businesses certainty that inflation would slow. But she went on:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt\u2019s not something we can offer in the next 12 months. This is a shock completely out of our control.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.58 EDT<\/p>\n Bullock says Australians are \u2018poorer\u2019 after RBA rate hike<\/p>\n Speaking about the impact of the Middle East conflict, Bullock says:<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralians are poorer because of this shock to oil prices and energy prices and all the other commodity prices that are being impacted. So we are poorer, and there is no way out of that. The trade-off is much worse.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.08 EDT<\/p>\n RBA governor warns more interest rate rises could come<\/p>\n Bullock says more interest rate rises may be needed after today\u2019s, which was the third rise this year.<\/p>\n She says rate hikes to date won\u2019t be able to stop fuel prices from driving up inflation. They\u2019re instead aimed at cutting spending to stop broader prices from rising after the oil price spike ends.<\/p>\n Bullock says:<\/p>\n double quotation markIn many firms that are facing cost pressures, they\u2019re looking to increase prices of their goods and services. If left unchecked, higher costs get embedded into price and wage setting decisions. These second round effects could lead to even higher and persistent inflation, and if so, would require even more tightening in monetary policy to get inflation under control.<\/p>\n However, she suggested there may not be a rush to raise rates again and the RBA had time to see how the economy handles the oil shock:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe board now judges the level of the cash rate to be a bit restrictive, which will help to address the risk that inflation will be higher and more persistent once the current prices shock passes through the economy. This gives the board space to see how the conflict plays out and the response of Australian households and businesses to the shock.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.48 EDT<\/p>\n RBA governor: \u2018We must get on top of inflation now\u2019<\/p>\n Michele Bullock, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, is speaking about today\u2019s rate hike.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters in Sydney, Bullock acknowledges Australian households are facing \u201cdifficult times\u201d but stresses the need to reduce inflation:<\/p>\n double quotation markInflation in Australia was already too high before the recent conflict in the Middle East began \u2026 We must get on top of inflation now so it doesn\u2019t get away from us.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.42 EDT<\/p>\n Antisemitism inquiry hears about social media abuse towards Jewish school students<\/p>\n Returning to the antisemitism royal commission, school principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner told the inquiry that social media abuse towards students at his Melbourne Jewish school has become so bad they have had to set up a system to block slurs.<\/p>\n He said before 7 October there would be an antisemitic incident once every few months at Bialik College, but since then, there had been an \u201cavalanche of experiences\u201d.<\/p>\n Those experiences include antisemitic graffiti and stickers, and about 50 potentially reportable incidents such as people driving by shouting abuse, and a student being spat on. He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe can\u2019t go into the CBD in Melbourne any more in school uniforms \u2026 We have had Hitler salutes and Jewish slurs.<\/p>\n He personally has been called a Nazi and a fascist and has had to upgrade his home security. The school has had to increase its security, paid for by parents through a security levy, and security staff now regularly scan the area around the school for antisemitic graffiti and stickers, he said.<\/p>\n He wanted the commission to recommend some sort of systemic funding for Jewish security, because currently it is \u201ca tax on Jewish identity \u2026 a tax on Jewish people to keep themselves safe\u201d.<\/p>\n His other suggestions include the professions adopting a controversial definition of antisemitism<\/a>, and to ban the slogans \u201cfrom the river to the sea<\/a>\u201d and \u201cglobalise the intifada<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.35 EDT<\/p>\n Shadow treasurer says RBA decision shows its lack of confidence in Labor<\/p>\n The federal shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, says today\u2019s rate hike shows the Reserve Bank of Australia is not confident the federal government can reduce inflation:<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralian households are paying the price because of Jim Chalmers\u2019 active inflation agenda.<\/p>\n While speaking to reporters earlier, Chalmers stressed that the RBA\u2019s statement did not point to public spending as a factor in the rate hike.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.27 EDT<\/p>\n Australians are \u2018hostage\u2019 to US decisions on Middle East conflict, Chalmers says<\/p>\n Asked if the US president, Donald Trump, is to blame for the rate rise, Chalmers says Australians are \u201chostage\u201d to decisions made about the Middle East war:<\/p>\n double quotation markI think that\u2019s self-evident from an economic point of view.<\/p>\n The Australian economy is getting absolutely pummelled by this war in the Middle East, and Australians are paying the price for that. And we\u2019re seeing that again today with this interest rate decision.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.26 EDT<\/p>\n Upcoming budget will help fight inflation, treasurer says<\/p>\n Chalmers says next week\u2019s federal budget will help fight inflation:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe intend to play a helpful role, not a harmful role, in the fight against inflation.<\/p>\n We take these inflationary pressures really seriously. We know that \u2026 Australians are under substantial pressure.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.08 EDT<\/p>\n Jim Chalmers speaking in Canberra after RBA rate rise decision<\/p>\n The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking in Canberra after the Reserve Bank delivered a third straight interest rate hike.<\/p>\n Chalmers says the Middle East conflict has added to Australia\u2019s inflationary pressures:<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralians are paying more, particularly for fuel \u2026 those price pressures are expected to be felt more broadly across our economy as well.<\/p>\n Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/AAPShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.15 EDT<\/p>\n Australians paying \u2018a hefty price\u2019 for Middle East conflict, Chalmers says after RBA rate rise The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the RBA\u2019s decision to raise the cash rate would \u201cmake it tougher\u201d for Australians already paying a \u201chefty price\u201d for the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n In a statement, Chalmers said:<\/p>\n double quotation markToday the independent Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Board increased the cash rate by 25 basis points. Australians are already paying a hefty price for the war in the Middle East and this decision will make it tougher. It will add to the pressure that families and businesses are under at a time of ongoing global instability.<\/p>\n The RBA\u2019s Statement is clear that conflict in the Middle East is already adding to inflation. While this decision was widely expected and widely anticipated, that doesn\u2019t make it any easier.<\/p>\n The treasurer is due to front a press conference in Canberra at 3pm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.10 EDT<\/p>\n Just one RBA board member voted to leave interest rates on hold<\/p>\n One of the RBA\u2019s board members voted to keep interest rates on hold today but the other eight overruled them to vote for a rate rise.<\/p>\n At its last meeting, five board members voted for an increase, defeating the other four who voted to wait and see how the war would impact inflation. The month before, the entire board voted for an increase.<\/p>\n Three of the board\u2019s eight meetings since July, when votes first began to be published, have been split decisions.<\/p>\n The board is made up of the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, her deputy, Andrew Hauser and the Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson, plus six others: Marnie Baker, Renee Fry-McKibbin, Ian Harper, Carolyn Hewson, Iain Ross and Bruce Preston.<\/p>\n Bullock probably won\u2019t tell us who the holdout was when she takes questions at 3:30pm. But she will tell us more about why the rest of the board overruled them to deliver a third consecutive hike.<\/p>\n Stay with us for updates.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.01 EDT<\/p>\n I\u2019ll hand you over to my colleague Adeshola Ore now, who will take you through the rest of the afternoon\u2019s news. Thanks for your company today so far.<\/p>\n![\"Tory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Tory_Shepherd.png\")
Tory Shepherd<\/p>\nTory Shepherd<\/p>\nLuca Ittimani<\/p>\nLuca Ittimani<\/p>\nLuca Ittimani<\/p>\nTory Shepherd<\/p>\n![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Dan_Jarvis-Bardy.png\")
Dan Jervis-Bardy<\/p>\nLuca Ittimani<\/p>\n![\"Stephanie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Steph_Convery.png\")
Stephanie Convery<\/p>\n