Chalmers Highlights Lower Tax Revenue Than Under Howard Government as Rate Hike Expected

Jim Chalmers said he doesn’t believe inflation is out of control, but he doesn’t want to see Australians “carry the can for decisions” on the other side of the world.

The treasurer is appearing on what seems like every television and radio program this morning to tout the government’s record on the economy while acknowledging the difficulties reining in inflation amid a cost of living crisis.

He said a lot of Australians are bracing for an almost certain Reserve Bank interest rate increase today, adding the government sees taming inflation and keeping unemployment low as “two important objectives”.

double quotation markAnd that’s equally important in the Reserve Bank’s mandate, dual mandate, which talks about maintaining full employment at the same time as they go for price stability, which means inflation in the target band.

He defended his government’s tax receipts as a percentage of GDP, saying they were lower than under the Howard government.

double quotation markWell, it’s still lower than what we saw under Howard and Costello, is the first point.

When asked if he would accept higher unemployment in exchange for tamed inflation, Chalmers maintained the government was “not for higher unemployment”.

double quotation markI think that’s pretty clear. And what we’ve seen in recent years is that it’s possible to have low and steady unemployment at the same time as we see inflation moderate to more normal levels.

Updated at 18.26 EDT

Bogong moths back at Parliament House

The mornings brought the arrival of a small number of bogong moths at Parliament House in Canberra, marking the first sightings amid an apparent resurgence of the endangered native insect.

Swarms of bogongs have been reported across NSW, part of the annual migration when huge numbers of the insects travel to cool caves in the Australian Alps to escape the summer heat.

The moths were a common sight in Canberra for decades, with particularly large numbers congregating at Parliament House. The lights around the building, including the huge Australian flag, attracted the moths. But in recent years numbers have dramatically dropped.

The moth has been listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature since 2021, but is not listed as a threatened species under federal conservation laws.

Guardian Australia saw a few bogongs in the Senate wing on Monday.

Figure showing historical bogong moth presence in Parliament House (2013). They used to be a common sight in Canberra.

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Updated at 18.58 EDT

Dfat providing assistance to family of Melbourne hiker missing in Peru

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is providing consular assistance to the family of Jordan Yap, a Melbourne man who remains missing after setting out for a difficult trek in Peru.

Dfat said it couldn’t provide further comment owing to privacy obligations.

Figure depicting Jordan Yap on a prior expedition to Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales.

A GoFundMe page set up by Yap’s family and friends stated that the 30-year-old man was meant to return from the 10-day hike on 23 September, but he never checked back into his hostel in Lima.

They have been paying private rescue teams to search for him and are arranging for more crews to head to the area “to cover as much territory as possible”.

“We expect to have these units actively searching in the next few days,” they wrote on the page. “Thank you again for standing with Jordan. Your support means more than we can say.”

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Updated at 18.39 EDT

Police investigating suspicious deaths of two men in northern NSW

New South Wales police say they are investigating the suspicious deaths of two men in the state’s north.

Police said they found the first man – who has since been identified as a 79-year-old – dead at a property on Summerland Way at Gurranang, near Grafton, on 13 September.

Police said they attended the same property about 3.40pm on Monday as part of their investigation.

After arriving at the house, police said they found the body of the second man, who they believe to be aged in his 50s, and set up another crime scene.

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Updated at 18.59 EDT

Chalmers: Australia should not ‘carry the can’ for overseas decisions

Chalmers said he doesn’t believe inflation is out of control, but he doesn’t want to see Australians “carry the can for decisions” on the other side of the world.

The treasurer is appearing on what seems like every television and radio program this morning to tout the government’s record on the economy while acknowledging the difficulties reining in inflation amid a cost of living crisis.

He said a lot of Australians are bracing for an almost certain Reserve Bank interest rate increase today, adding the government sees taming inflation and keeping unemployment low as “two important objectives”.

double quotation markAnd that’s equally important in the Reserve Bank’s mandate, dual mandate, which talks about maintaining full employment at the same time as they go for price stability, which means inflation in the target band.

He defended his government’s tax receipts as a percentage of GDP, saying they were lower than under the Howard government.

double quotation markWell, it’s still lower than what we saw under Howard and Costello, is the first point.

When asked if he would accept higher unemployment in exchange for tame rented inflation, Chalmers maintained the government was “not for higher unemployment”.

double quotation markI think that’s pretty clear. And what we’ve seen in recent years is that it’s possible to have low and steady unemployment at the same time as we see inflation moderate to more normal levels.

Updated at 18.26 EDT

Wife of missing activist urges Albanese government help

The wife of an Australian activist missing in Cambodia has implored the Albanese government to find him and bring him home, Australian Associated Press reports.

Tran Hiep, a 50-year-old Australian-Vietnamese democracy campaigner, was due to return to Bangkok, Thailand, to reunite with his wife, Chloe Dang, after a short trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to meet human rights defenders.

But he never boarded his flight and has not communicated with his wife since 18 September, leaving her worried for his safety.

double quotation markMy husband deserves protection, and I really hope the Australian government will continue to put pressure on Cambodia to do an investigation to find out where he is right now.

Tran Hiep, a freelance IT professional who founded the Australian Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking, was travelling with another human rights activist, Nguyen Duc Thuan, who is also Vietnamese and holds a Norwegian passport.

Hiep, a freelance IT professional who founded the Australian Alliance to Combat Human Trafficking, completed his mission working with fellow activist Nguyen Duc Thuan to facilitate training sessions with dissident Vietnamese activists.

Here’s our story from political editor Tom McIlroy:

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Updated at 18.01 EDT

Chalmers says Australians understand there are ‘inflationary challenges’ in our economy

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the inflationary challenge in the economy is being made “much worse” by the war in the Middle East.

Chalmers, speaking on Channel 7’s Sunrise this morning ahead of the RBA announcement, said the government has focused on savings and delivering surpluses to get government debt down.

double quotation markBut we know that there’s always more work today. I think people understand, people who might be bracing for an interest rate rise later today. … I think people understand that there are inflationary challenges in our economy.

But when you see what’s happening with global oil prices … obviously, factually, that is one the big drivers of inflation that people are having other deal with right now.

Chalmers said he knows that people are under pressure and that interest rate rises add to that pressure.

double quotation markThat’s why we accept our part, our responsibility for our part in this fight against inflation. … And it also means dealing with these longer term economic challenges.

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Mia Lay among officers mourned at National Police Remembrance Day

Mia Lay, the Sydney police officer who was killed in a car crash last week, will be among those mourned at National Police Remembrance Day 2026 in Sydney.

New South Wales’ premier, Chris Minns, governor, Margaret Beazley, and police commissioner, Mal Lanyon will be among the guests at Sydney’s Domain.

Minns said he felt incredibly gratitude for the service of police officers across the state:

double quotation mark[Police] start a shift not knowing what you are going to face, and we ask these young men and women to put themselves in harm’s way to keep the rest of us safe.

Police and counter-teriorist minister, Yasmin Catley, said:

double quotation markMy thoughts are with the families of Constable Lay, Sergeant [Mark] Bransgrove and everyone else who has lost a loved one in the line of duty. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Lay, 20, had worked as a police officer for just 16 months when she was killed “instantly” in the crash in Redfern on Friday. Sgt Mark Bransgrove, who died in July last year, served in the police service for 38 years, including 30 years in the Forensic Services Group.

Remembrance events will also be held in Broken Hill, Bourke, Orange, Lithgow, Inverell, Dubbo and Tamworth, as well as other cities and towns across the country.

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Updated at 18.55 EDT

Good morning, and happy Tuesday. It’s Nick Visser here to take over the blog. Let’s get to it.

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There were 30 drowning deaths in 2025-2026, the highest number in almost a decade, according to a Royal Life Saving Australia report that Australian Associated Press reports on.

Of them, 14 involved more than one death, often related to boating, driving through floodwater, or people exploring unfamiliar environments, chief executive Justin Scarr said.

double quotation markThe message is to know the swimming skills of all the people in your group.

It is the largest spike in deaths since 2016-2017, when 34 lives were lost.

Over the past decade there have been with 229 deaths, or an average of 23 per year.

In the most recent year, 83% of drowning victims were men, 37% were born overseas and a quarter were aged between 65 and 74.

Nearly one-third of the fatal events were related to boating, while driving through floodwater and swimming were the other leading circumstances.

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Besides the RBA decision at 2.30pm, the other big political story of the day is that Larissa Waters is standing down as Greens leader.

She said last night that a kidney disease she has been managing has recently worsened and that she needs to stand down.

Here’s our story from political editor Tom McIlroy:

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Updated at 17.15 EDT

Chalmers defends record ahead of RBA cash rate decision

Catie McLeod

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has defended his economic record on the eve of what is widely expected to be the fourth interest rate rise of 2026, as the Reserve Bank remains concerned about persistent inflation.

The RBA board is poised to hike the cash rate from 4.35% to 4.6% on Tuesday, which would be the fourth increase in 2026 and push typical home loan interest rates to 6.5%.

Speaking on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, Chalmers emphasised the factors contributing to inflation, saying that Australia was performing well considering what was going on in the world, particularly in the Middle East.

double quotation markWe have a lot going for us and we’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that in these difficult global circumstances Australia continues to out-perform the world.

We have a big inflation challenge in our economy. It’s made much worse by decisions taken on the other side of the world.

From an economic point of view this war in Iran has been an absolute disaster for Australian families, because they have been asked to pay a hefty price.

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Updated at 17.15 EDT

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.

Jim Chalmers has defended his stewardship of the economy ahead of what is widely expected to be the fourth interest rate rise of 2026 as the Reserve Bank tries to bring down persistent inflation. More coming up.

Besides the RBA decision at 2.30pm, the other big political story of the day is that Larissa Waters is standing down as Greens leader. We’ll have reaction as it comes in this morning plus the latest on who might replace her.

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Updated at 16.40 EDT