The Reserve Bank of Australia today made no change to the cash rate, leaving it at 4.35%.
The 4.35% rate has been in force since November 2023.
The bank’s decision is its first in a restructured process. As part of the new processes, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock, held a press conference an hour after the bank’s decision was announced.
Watch Michele Bullock’s press conference (45m)
The coalition will support the Albanese government’s tax cuts, the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, confirmed today.
Flanked by the Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor, and the Shadow Finance Minister, Senator Jane Hume, Dutton said “the coalition is not going to stand in the way of people who are doing it tough”.
With repeated references to “the liar in The Lodge” and the government’s “egregious lie”, Dutton said the coalition would take “a significant tax policy” to the next election.
Watch the Dutton-Taylor-Hume press conference (35m)
The Chinese Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been sentenced to death by a court in China.
Yang Hengjun
Yang Hengjun, a pro-democracy activist, has been detained for the past five years. His death sentence will likely be commuted to life imprisonment after two years of “good behaviour”.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND
A panel of 31 leading economists assembled by The Conversation sees no cut in interest rates before the middle of this year, and only a slight cut by December, enough to trim just $55 per month off the cost of servicing a $600,000 variable-rate mortgage.
Greg Combet, a former minister in the Rudd-Gillard governments, has been appointed Chairman of the Future Fund.
Greg Combet, new Chairman of the Future Fund
The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, made the announcement at a press conference today.
This is the video of Governor-General David Hurley’s 2024 Australia Day Address.
The Address was shown on ABC television at 6.55pm on Australia Day.
Australia Day 1973 passed almost unnoticed, according to one radio news report, but Gough Whitlam used his 53rd day as prime minister to announce a search for a new national anthem.
Listen to a news report from radio 3DB in Melbourne on January 26, 1973, including a clip from Whitlam’s speech (1m)
Whitlam’s announcement of a replacement for God Save the Queen came in his Australia Day address. He said:
The Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, has responded to the Prime Minister’s Press Club appearance today.
The rhetoric could charitably be described as over-the-top:
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has defended the changes the government has made to the Stage 3 tax cuts.
In an address to the National Press Club, Albanese confirmed that the tax system will remain progressive with the reintroduction of the 37% tax scale. Whereas the Stage 3 cuts excluded people on lower incomes, all taxpayers will now receive a tax cut from July 1, but those on higher incomes have had their cut reduced.
Why is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suddenly so keen to deliver extra cost-of-living relief – keen enough to summon Labor members of parliament to Canberra for a briefing on Wednesday, followed by a National Press Club address on Thursday?
One immediate reason is he is keen to make sure Labor wins the upcoming byelection in the outer-Melbourne electorate of Dunkley on March 2.
The former prime minister, Scott Morrison, has announced that he will retire from parliament at the end of February.
Morrison made the announcement in a statement posted on Facebook. He said he would “take on new challenges in the global corporate sector and spend more time with my family.”
The libertarian economist and newly-elected President of Argentina, Javier Milei, has delivered a strident defence of capitalism at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
This is the official timetable of key dates for the Dunkley by-election on March 2, 2024.
The dates show the election is being conducted within the minimum timeframe whereby polling day must be no less than 33 days from the issue of the writ.
2024 Dunkley By-Election Timetable
Event
Date
Explanation
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a “country report” on the Australian economy, warning that growth is weakening and inflation remains persistently high.
As 2024 starts, a reminder that across the nine federal, state and territory jurisdictions, there are eight Labor governments.
Current Australian Heads of Government & Opposition Leaders – from December 21, 2024
No.
Jurisdiction
PM/Premier/
Chief Minister
Age
Party
Since
Opposition Leader
Age
Party
Since
1.
AUSTRALIA
Anthony Albanese
62
ALP
23.05.2022