Good afternoon.
A senior Reserve Bank official says soaring fuel prices from the Iran war are “making us all poorer”, but signalled the central bank may need to hike interest rates again to prevent inflation getting out of hand.
The RBA assistant governor Christopher Kent’s comments came as the government said it would back an “economically sustainable” above-inflation wage rise for 2.7 million workers as part of this year’s minimum wage decision.
Meanwhile the housing market is showing signs of slowing, with Melbourne home prices slipping since the start of the year.
And the Coalition used question time to pile pressure on Labor over fuel supply. The energy minister, Chris Bowen, revealed the number of service stations reporting shortages remained steady at about 500.
Top news
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Former Brisbane Lion Leigh Ryswyk becomes first AFL player to come out as gay
In video
Workers discovered a grave containing human bones after parts of the floor of a Dutch church collapsed in February, triggering a race to identify the skeleton through DNA testing. The remains may belong to Charles de Batz-Castelmore – AKA d’Artagnan, the famed French musketeer.
What they said …
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“And, I guess, the jewellery as well … you know, it’s something bling, you know what I’m saying?” – Gout Gout
Sparkling with an earring and two glimmering chains, the sprint sensation said his confidence is growing ahead of his 200m rematch with Lachlan Kennedy at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne on Saturday.
Full Story
Andrew Hastie on Trump’s ‘overconfident’ Iran war and resurrecting the Liberals
Political editor Tom McIlroy speaks to the shadow minister for industry and sovereign capability, Andrew Hastie, about Australia’s response to the global fuel shock, why he thinks we need to re-industrialise and his vision for the Liberal party’s response to One Nation.
Before bed read
We’ve had “girl math”, now it’s time for “boy kibble” – a brown, lumpy concoction praised by gym bros as an easy, relatively cheap way to get your carbs and protein fix. But is it any good for you? Madeleine Aggeler investigates.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: UMU. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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