The International Monetary Fund has delivered its report card on the Australian economy, and the results are generally positive but there’s more work to be done. (Perhaps a ‘B+’?)
The economy has been “resilient”. GDP growth continues to slow to 1.25% in 2024 but unemployment remains low and the country’s fiscal deficit has improved faster than in other advanced nations.
On the less positive side, while inflation has peaked, its decline is “slow” and core inflation – stripping out volatile movers – remains “sticky”. And that means higher interest rates, with a bit of help from governments, are needed.
The IMF recommends “further monetary policy tightening to ensure that inflation comes back to the target range by 2025 and minimize the risk of de-anchoring inflation expectations,” its report said.
In that context, continued coordination between monetary and fiscal policy is key to securing more equitable burden sharing.
In other words, the Reserve Bank should not have to do all the work.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, though, says the IMF “has backed the Albanese government’s responsible budget management and highlighted our targeted policies to address cost-of-living pressures”.
The independent assessment supports the government’s strategy of banking the majority of revenue upgrades when the inflation challenge is most intense.
Continuing to address the press club, Chanel Contos said talking about consent education was “mind blowing” for her and her peers because the behaviours that constitute indecent assault and sexual assault “were so incredibly pervasive we didn’t even recognise them as an anomaly”.
A useful way to understand how this culture of rape is perpetrated is to understand what is known as the pyramid of rape culture.
Imagine an actual pyramid or the shape of a triangle. Think about the bottom layer of this pyramid made up of sexist attitudes, rape jokes and victim blaming. This props up the next layer of the pyramid that hosts acts such as image-based abuse, stalking and coercion, that then enables the acts that sit at the point of the pyramid, like sexual assault, to occur.
Letting behaviours at the bottom of the pyramid like cat calling, locker room banter and groping go unchallenged provides a solid foundation on which more severe forms of sexual assault are normalised.
Sexual consent campaigner speaks to National Press Club
Founder of Teach Us Consent and chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership’s youth advisory committee, Chanel Contos, is addressing the National Press Club today.
As part of her Teach Us Consent campaign she launched a petition for holistic, age appropriate consent education to be mandated in the Australian curriculum.
It’s now been signed by nearly 50,000 Australians, and almost 7,000 people have posted their testimony of being sexually assaulted while of school age in Australia.
A year later, she took the petition to a meeting with all of Australia’s education ministers:
…they unanimously agreed to mandate consent education from kindergarten, every year until year 10.
Victorian government releases 240 annual reports
The opposition leader, John Pesutto, is holding a press conference to criticise the government’s decision to dump 240 annual reports in one day.
He told reporters it was an attempt to “prevent proper transparency and scrutiny”.
Pesutto also slammed the government for not releasing 40 reports on time. He said:
[These include] Ambulance Victoria, Fire Rescue Victoria and the Country Fire Authority, amongst others.
Here’s the full list:
More than 240 documents have been tabled in Victorian parliament today but 40 are missing: pic.twitter.com/bfSsEqCPF1
Queensland premier says bushfire emergency is ‘far from over’
Conditions fuelling bushfires in Queensland have eased, but the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says the state of emergency “is not yet over”.
At 6.30am this morning there were 76 active bushfires. In the Western Downs, 58 structures were damaged and the state says 387 homes have been saved due to firefighting efforts.
About 80 firefighters from Victoria have arrived in Queensland to assist.
Palaszczuk said:
This emergency is far from over.
Although the loss of property in these fires is significant, 387 homes have been saved.
This is a tribute to our firefighters and the communities who continue to follow their directions.
There is no doubt these combined efforts have saved lives.
For those who have lost everything, the arms of Queenslanders are wrapping around them.
Kerr claims top Asian award
Matildas captain Sam Kerr has been named the best women’s footballer in Asia in a ceremony in Doha.
The accolade comes a day after Kerr finished second in voting for the Ballon d’Or, the award for the best player in the world, behind Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí.
Kerr is just the third footballer to win the Asian Football Confederation’s major women’s prize more than once, after also claiming the crown in 2017.
The Matildas take on Taiwan in Perth tonight in their third Olympic qualifier.
Albanese backs Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’
Anthony Albanese has again reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself amid its conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas, but has warned how it defends itself matters.
Overnight, Israeli airstrikes destroyed apartment blocks in Gaza and killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in the northern area of the besieged strip. The Israeli military said the strike had targeted a key Hamas commander.
Hamas officials said more than 50 people were killed and more than 150 people were injured as a result.
Albanese said the government remained “very concerned about humanitarian issues” in Gaza and continued to call for civilians to be protected under the international rule of law.
He said:
We say that Israel has a right to defend itself but how it defends itself matters. We want to see all innocent lives protected. Every life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian.
A recent spate of violent deaths has politicians calling for better support for women and a national approach to tackling the scourge, AAP reports.
About 50 women have been killed in Australia this year, five of them in the past 10 days.
The deaths spanned the nation with women found dead in Perth, Bendigo, Canberra, Sydney, the Hunter region and Aldinga beach in South Australia.
One of the most high-profile deaths was that of 21-year-old high school water polo coach Lilie James, whose body was found with horrific head injuries in the gymnasium toilets at a Sydney private school on Thursday.
A joint statement from Liberal MP Bridget Archer, Labor MP Alicia Payne and Greens spokeswomen on women Larissa Waters urged governments to tackle the root causes of violence against women and children, and transform harmful social norms that can lead to femicide.
They also called for more funding for frontline services that provide help to women escaping violence:
Governments at all levels must continue to prioritise this issue with funding and leadership, and each of us must drive the cultural change we need to end the epidemic of violence against women in our communities.
The acting opposition leader, Sussan Ley, also said things needed to change:
This is a national crisis and we are not talking about it enough. With more and more women being killed, questions must be asked about what is being done.
We must move past despair and anger and take greater action, because the violence has not slowed and the killings have not stopped.
‘Quite clearly’ issues with Coalition-era citizenship-stripping laws: PM
Anthony Albanese earlier addressed the high court ruling against Coalition-era laws allowing ministers to strip Australian citizenship from convicted terrorists.
Algerian-born convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika was successful in his bid at the high court on Wednesday, arguing the laws were unconstitutional.
Former home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, cancelled Benbrika’s citizenship in 2020 shortly before Benbrika’s jail sentence was due to expire.
Albanese said the federal government will “examine the ruling and respond appropriately” in time.
But the prime minister added there was “quite clearly” a problem with the powers legislated under the Coalition government.
Quite clearly, there was an issue with the former government’s legislation, which is what this ruling relates to.
Australian Medical Association welcomes ‘real commitment’ to general practice
Australia’s peak medical body has welcomed the tripling of the incentive for GPs to bulk bill vulnerable patients, which comes into effect today.
The president of the Australian Medical Association, Prof Steve Robson said the decision announced in the budget was evidence of the government’s real commitment to providing more support for patients who need to see a GP.
This significant investment, equalling $3.5 billion over five years, is the starting point for improving the sustainability of general practice in Australia.
But we know more work can be done. We will continue working with the government on developing new programs and initiatives that strengthen primary care and ensure GP-led care is affordable and accessible for all patients.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has revealed the attorney general’s wife Deborah has died. Albanese told reporters in Sydney that Mark Dreyfus had informed him his wife of 44 years passed away last night.
Albanese said:
People would be aware that Deborah had suffered, for a long period of time, illness, and that has meant that Mark was absent from some period in parliament, but continued to fulfil his duties as the attorney general of Australia.
Mark informed me that he and Deborah’s children were there as she passed away peacefully last night. I gave my sincere condolences on behalf of the government on behalf of the Labor party and on behalf of Mark’s, many friends and family for this very sad loss after a very long and difficult illness, where Deborah showed enormous courage and fight for a considerable period of time.
This week is a sad time. Mr Dreyfus will be taking leave as attorney general from today. I’ve encouraged him to return to work only when he is able to do so. This is a time in which he should be allowed to grieve with his family and I ask that his privacy and the privacy of his family be respected, which is why I’m making this public statement here today.
A group of zero waste advocates gathered outside the Sydney Cricket Ground today to protest the 2023 Energy from Waste Conference.
The advocates are calling for an end to energy from waste incinerators in NSW. They argue that waste incinerators are “the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste”, relying heavily on fossil fuel based materials such as plastic.
We’re out the front of the SCG this morning letting delegates going into the 2023 Energy from Waste Conference know that we don’t want dangerous waste incinerators in our communities! @SueHigginson_; @janebremmerpic.twitter.com/PokEpsYeOK
— No more incinerators – Eastern Suburbs (@No_Incinerators) October 31, 2023
In a press release sent from the office of NSW Greens MLC Amanda Cohn, campaign manager for No More Incinerators Chris Hanson said companies who peddle waste to energy incinerators as clean and sustainable “are wolves in sheeps’ clothing”.
These companies claim the only material they want to burn is ‘unrecyclable, residual waste’, however the reality is very different, as once any recoverable material is shredded it can never be recovered and recycled.
It is not in incinerator companies’ interests to attempt to recover any plastics or other fossil fuel-based materials as this would reduce the amount of fuel available for the waste to energy incinerator. Incinerators kill off any attempts to recover materials for recycling as their demand to fuel increases.
The Seven Network has been fined after broadcasting a gambling ad during live sports coverage and within prohibited hours.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority said the ad was broadcast on the streaming platform, 7 Plus, during live coverage of an NFL match in December 2022.
Current rules ban gambling promotions during live sporting coverage between 5am and 8.30am, including five minutes before and after the game.
Acma chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, said the media watchdog imposed the maximum penalty possible of $13,200. Here’s what she said in a statement:
The ACMA expects broadcasters to have robust systems and processes and associated assurance mechanisms in place to support compliance with these laws.
According to Acma, Seven said the breach was an isolated incident and that it had tightened its oversight to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Here’s O’Loughlin:
Seven has told us that the measures it has in place are adequate to ensure future compliance and it does not need to do more. Following repeated breaches by Seven, we will continue to closely monitor their compliance with the rules to make sure that is the case.
Lawyers representing abuse survivors have welcomed the high court’s decision against the church’s use of permanent stays, saying it shows such tactics must only be used as a last resort.
The church has been using permanent stays routinely in cases where paedophile clergy have died or where other evidence is not available, effectively arguing survivors’ delays in coming forward has left it in an unfair position.
The high court ruled the use of permanent stays in cases that were not exceptional threatened to bring justice into disrepute.
Shine Lawyers’ Nicholas Kitchin said the high court had put a stop to the church’s tactics. He told the Guardian:
Survivors of abuse have learned today that they have the support of our nation’s highest Court. We strongly encourage survivors to continue coming forward to seek justice for the abuse they suffered as children.
Ross Koffel, managing principal of Koffels Solicitors and Barristers, told the Guardian:
It’s certainly a win for justice and a win for the plaintiffs in terms of preventing the institutions using an aggressive legal technique to avoid liability.
Our clients will be very relieved. We’ve been waiting to file in a whole variety of cases, and we have a whole lot of stay applications on foot. So the court may take a different view when they are now heard.
IMF won’t say how much higher interest rates should go in Australia
As per our earlier post, the IMF has just released its latest assessment of the economy (see here), with a recommendation that interest rates will have to go higher to rein in inflation.
Abdoul Wane, the IMF’s mission chief, has just completed a media briefing where he expanding on the report’s conclusion.
Wane, perhaps wisely, doesn’t say how much higher interest rates will need to go in Australia, saying “what is needed exactly will depend on the psychological effects of rate hikes that will not be captured by our models”.
Inflation expectations should not become “de-anchored”, Wane says, which is also a mantra we hear often from the Reserve Bank.
On the IMF’s models, Wane said inflation only returns to the RBA’s target band by the first quarter of 2026, or slightly later than the RBA has been saying. The RBA’s August estimate had inflation dropping to the top end of the 2%-3% target range by mid-2025.
Then again, the IMF has been talking to the RBA (with Wane in Sydney today with his team) and we’re due to get the central bank’s updated forecasts in full on 10 November.
Although the inflation outlook from the IMF uses “expectations from the market” that early 2026 timing “is not very far from what the RBA has in mind”, Wange said.
Has the IMF let a cat out of the bag? We’ll probably find out next Tuesday when we expect the RBA will be explaining why its cash rate had to be hoisted another 25 basis points to 4.35%.
US to accelerate delivery of Blackhawk helicopters to Australia after Taipans grounded
The US Pentagon has announced it will accelerate the delivery of Blackhawk helicopters to Australia to replace the Taipans that were grounded after two recent crashes.
In July, the crash of an MRH-90 in Queensland during Exercise Talisman Sabre saw all MRH-90s grounded:
The future of our relationship, and especially our defense cooperation, looks brighter than ever. We share a vision with our friends across the Indo-Pacific of a region that is free, open and secure. And we’re committed to making that vision a reality.
Deputy prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles said Australia is “enormously grateful” to the US for speeding the delivery of the Black Hawks.
This is something that we really appreciate, and is again, an example of America standing up in a moment which we really need it.
