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The forecasts behind the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest rate hike are sobering, and help explain why the central bank hit mortgage holders again, even as consumer confidence is tanking.
The RBA now expects inflation will peak at 4.8%, up from its forecast of a peak of 4.2% made before the Iran war. It is worried that higher fuel costs will trigger broader price pressures across the economy, even after the war ends.
The RBA is an outlier among major central banks because home-grown inflation was already well above the 2-3% target before the war began. As Stella Huangfu writes, the bank now has a very narrow path to tread between cooling inflation and damaging the economy.
To see how much more you will need to pay every month on your mortgage, check out the handy calculator in our story.
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Victoria Thieberger
Business and Economics Editor
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Stella Huangfu, University of Sydney
The central bank has also forecast higher inflation and slower economic growth.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
A national centre to detect and disrupt the threat of online violent extremism and terrorism is to be set up by the federal government, in the upcoming budget.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The One Nation leader is leaving open the idea that she might quit her Senate seat to stand for the House of Representatives.
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Amin Saikal, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University; Amitav Acharya, American University
At every difficult moment in their long history, the Persian people have fought to preserve what is theirs. The Trump administration may have underestimated this.
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David Hayward, RMIT University
With new spending and an operating surplus, the Victorian treasurer has delivered the goods. But the state’s huge net debt still looms large.
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Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross
Pope Leo is following the teachings of Francis on human dignity and applying them to ongoing international crises, argues a scholar of global Catholicism.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The finance journalist says changes to capital gains tax concessions and negative gearing are only likely to have a ‘symbolic effect’ on housing affordability.
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Elisa Di Gregorio, Adelaide University
Rich Kid, Poor Kid highlights the urgency and devastation of the school funding problem in Australia.
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Thea van de Mortel, Griffith University
Is it the flu, COVID or something else? That old rapid antigen test sitting in your cupboard may tell you. But this is what you need to know.
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Politics + Society
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Gabrielle Appleby, UNSW Sydney
Democratic backsliding is raising alarm around the world – and there is some evidence of it happening in Australia, too.
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Health + Medicine
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Jaimie Northam, Western Sydney University
Your kids don’t need to know the ins and outs of why you’re separating. But being clear and involving them in decisions that affect them can help them adjust.
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Emma Beckett, Australian Catholic University
What’s for dinner? That’s a tough decision to make, especially when you’re hungry, tired or overwhelmed with options.
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Environment + Energy
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Niusha Shafiabady, Australian Catholic University
Simple changes to your home can keep the warmth in, the winter cold out, and power bills down.
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Hannah Kirk, Monash University; Sashka Samarawickrama, Monash University
Even quite young children are watching, thinking and feeling things about the future of the environment. Those feelings deserve to be taken seriously.
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Olga Dodd, Auckland University of Technology; Adrian Fernandez-Perez, University College Dublin
NZ today stands as the only International Energy Agency member whose public oil reserves lie entirely offshore. How can it now rebuild its domestic fuel resilience?
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Science + Technology
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Renske Jongen, University of Sydney; Ezequiel M. Marzinelli, University of Sydney; Paul Gribben, UNSW Sydney
Seagrasses are often overlooked, but they are among the most important coastal habitats on Earth.
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Marten Risius, The University of Queensland; Christopher David, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
The online Agartha trend blends occult pseudoscience with neo-Nazism and weaponised irony to open a doorway to radicalisation.
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Arts + Culture
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Ianto Ware, University of Sydney
The artist population has fallen in all areas of Sydney, becoming less diverse, both racially and economically.
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Jye Marshall, Swinburne University of Technology; Rachel Lamarche-Beauchesne, Torrens University Australia
The Met Gala is one of the most talked about fashion spectacles of the year, with this year’s event spotlighting the relationship between fashion and art.
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Modern politics, ancient lessons
“One of the great legacies my father left me was the full set of Britannica's Great Books of the western world. The set was published in 1951, my birth year. Yes some are difficult to read, but more importantly about the classics is the opportunity to read and understand the foundations of our civilization. Not that things are so civil at present. The Republicans in the USA could well do with learning from Plato. Read the conversations of Socrates in The Republic and they may learn something about justice, injustice and the requirement for a true leader whose primary focus is working for the benefit of their citizens. The false leader is primarily focused on their own
personal gain.”
Gerard McDonald
Troublesome Trump
“I cannot understand how anyone could see the current US president as an ally. He is manipulated by others to start wars that no one else wants and then wants everyone else to help solve the problems he creates. He is causing our inflation spike and has put global fuel supplies in jeopardy. He is breaking up the global rule of law, stripping aid from those who desperately need it, undermining NATO and the UN and we call him an ally! Trump is clearly a highly irrational bully, but we are equally as irrational unless we demonstrate that what Trump stands for is incompatible with Australian values and Australia’s best interests. It’s time for a serious review.”
Jon Temby
Not so simple
“I feel really sorry for the Australian women (sometimes called ‘ISIS brides') and their children trying to return to Australia from Syria. We need to consider some of the cultural family norms under which these women went to join their ISIS-linked husbands in the first place. We imagine that they went voluntarily, fully supporting their husbands’ ideals but I’m not so sure about that. I would like to see the Federal government investigate these women more carefully, and their family links back here in Australia. If indeed they went fully supporting their husbands’ ideals, then maybe we don’t want them back. However, if they went under family orders
and the politics of the whole scene was out of their full understanding at the time, then I think we should extend some human compassion and allow them to come home.”
Elaine Langshaw, 
We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
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