Australia news LIVE: Inflation hits 6.1 per cent as treasurer warns of more pain to come; negotiations continue over Labor’s climate change bill

Key posts

  • Climate bill to make government fossil fuel investment harder
  • Unemployment to rise as inflation’s headwinds buffet economy
  • This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Climate bill to make government fossil fuel investment harder

Labor will make it more challenging for key government agencies to spend public money on coal and gas projects in an olive branch offering to the Greens as negotiations go down to the wire over the government’s signature climate reform.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out the Greens’ push to phase out coal and gas in Australia and argued if Australia ceased exporting fossil fuels it would not help the world reduce emissions because other nations will use alternative supplies.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has welcomed the latest move, but said the amendments don’t guarantee public money cannot flow to coal and gas projects.

On Sunday, Bandt said he would demand an end to all new funding for fossil fuel projects and threatened to amend the government’s first budget in November.

More on this issue here.

Unemployment to rise as inflation’s headwinds buffet economy

The economy will slow, more people will be out of work and real wages will take a substantial hit as the Reserve Bank’s efforts to control inflation with higher interest rates bite, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal in a budget and economic outlook to be delivered to federal parliament later today.

After fresh data showed prices growing at their fastest rate since the introduction of the GST, Chalmers will use a formal parliamentary address to reveal the battle to control inflation will take a substantial economic toll over the next two years.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal sharply downgraded economic growth forecasts in an address to parliament.Credit:Brendon Thorne

When then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg released the 2022-23 budget in March, official interest rates were still 0.1 per cent and expected only to moderately increase.

Instead, they are already at 1.35 per cent and tipped to reach 2.6 per cent by the end of the year.

Read the full story here.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Thursday, July 28. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started.

  • Treasurer Jim Chalmers will today use a formal parliamentary address to provide an update on the economy. Shane Wright and Rachel Clun write that the speech will warn of a slowing economy, more people out of work and real wages taking a substantial hit over the next two years. Yesterday, official figures put the annual inflation rate at 6.1 per cent – the highest level since the introduction of the GST more than 20 years ago.
  • Meanwhile, Mike Foley and James Massola report that Labor will make it more challenging for government agencies to spend public money on coal and gas projects in an olive branch offering to the Greens. It comes as the government hopes to secure crossbench support in the Senate for its signature Climate Change Bill. The draft law was introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday.
  • And in international news, the United States central bank has raised interest rates by 75 basis points for the second month in a row. And the head of the World Health Organisation has advised people at risk of contracting monkeypox to consider reducing their sexual partners for the time being.
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