Good afternoon.
Inflation has climbed to 3.8% in the year to October as Jim Chalmers flagged he could announce further energy bill subsidies for households in December’s midyear budget.
Among the drivers, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: childcare costs up 11% in the year, with rents up 4.2% annually. The head of the ABS also said power prices were 37% higher because of a “huge valley” in electricity prices this time last year, when state governments’ household energy subsidies were at their peak.
The Coalition seized on the overall inflation uptick, from 3.6% the month before, with Ted O’Brien suggesting borrowers could “kiss goodbye” hopes of the Reserve Bank cutting the cash rate.
Top news
Virginia Giuffre died in WA without a valid will – now the legal battles can resume
All-male lineup takes top slots at ABC Sydney after Chris Bath’s shock departure
Nauru president accused in parliament of corruptly siphoning off millions of Australian funding
Bondi Junction stabbings: warrantless ‘wanding’ among recommendations considered by NSW coroner
Robert Irwin wins Dancing with the Stars US, a decade after sister Bindi
In pictures
The horsewomen of escaramuza wear Victorian dresses and make daring moves riding side-saddle. Photographer Constance Jaeggi recounts how she documented the Mexican tradition.
What they said …
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“Women continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives, for this ongoing pattern of dismissal, delay and inadequate responses that leave them unprotected in critical moments.”
Members of the federal government’s own expert advisory panel on sexual violence have called for “urgent” independent national oversight of police after new revelations about Queensland police failures before the killing of the First Nations woman Kardell Lomas.
Full Story
Is Lebanon the new flashpoint for Israel?
Israel’s latest strike in Beirut on Sunday, which killed at least five people and wounded 28, has dramatically escalated existing tensions in the region and left many in Lebanon anxious about what may follow.
Beirut-based journalist William Christou speaks to Nour Haydar about the Lebanese government and Hezbollah’s responses to the strike and Israel’s ongoing presence in south Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement.
Before bed read
What can we learn from Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “erotic poetry”? Columnist Marina Hyde’s key takeaway: that Americans need to get better at enjoying a scandal.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: UTES. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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