Australia news live: new laws to crack down on property underquoting in NSW; inflation could reach ‘high fours’, Chalmers says | Australia news
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Chalmers: Inflation could reach ‘four’
Tom McIlroy
Jim Chalmers He confirmed Treasury modeling suggested war and other economic conditions could push inflation in Australia into the “mid to high tertiles”.
Labor is tackling stubborn inflation but economic shocks from the Middle East will make that task even more difficult and put extra pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates.
Private forecasts already suggest inflation will be in the high 4% range.
We’ve run a number of scenarios that clearly lay out some realistic assumptions about global oil prices and how that would potentially translate into inflation, and you know, if we were to put pen to paper on those forecasts today, we’d see inflation peaking in the mid to high quadrants.
Chalmers said the May 12 budget would be “tough” but would include reforms that would likely include capital gains tax relief and changes to other tax settings.
Tom McIlroy
No fuel shortages expected, Chalmers says
Jim Chalmers He told Sky the government did not expect Australia to run out of fuel due to the ongoing war in Iran. About a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and the growing conflict is already hurting international prices.
“We have large stocks of fuel, whether it’s petrol, diesel or jet fuel, and we’re working day and night to make sure Australia doesn’t run out. We certainly don’t expect that,” Chalmers said.
Asked whether petrol prices could rise above $3 per liter in Australia, Chalmers said it depended on the scale of the war.
We don’t have a model for oil prices rising this much, but there is too much volatility and too much unpredictability in the global oil market.
Chalmers says the government is working with the competition watchdog to make sure retailers are not inflating prices.
Tom McIlroy
Treasurer praises officials taking care of Iran football team
Jim Chalmers He praised authorities for assisting members of the Iranian football team in assessing their asylum claims in Australia.
The government confirmed on Sunday that three members of the team decided to return to Iran after initially seeking protection there.
Chalmers told Sky Home Office officials were working to assist the team in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
“They are absolutely top notch and working on these issues 24 hours a day,” he said.
How these events unfold is ultimately a matter of the authorities deciding that these Iranian women are doing the best they can under extreme and extraordinary pressure, and this often requires quite dramatic and extraordinary steps like the ones you describe.
Good morning
Welcome to Guardian Australia’s Sunday live news blog. my name is Ima CaldwellToday I will bring you the latest news.
First of all this morning, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Tony BurkeThree more members of the Iran women’s football team have been confirmed to have left Australia. The decision means only three of the seven team members will remain in Australia on specially issued protection visas.
In NSW, the Minns government is introducing legislation to combat property underpricing by significantly increasing penalties. We’ll have more information about this soon.
And we’re waiting to hear from the federal policy front, too. Jim Chalmers And Barnaby Joyce In television interviews this morning.
Stay tuned for all this and more.
