NAB CEO Ross McEwan says the rising cost of living is worrying, but is confident many customers are in good shape to manage mortgage repayments as rates rise; Labor ministry to be sworn in. Follow updates here.
- The economy overcame widespread flooding, the omicron COVID-19 variant and supply chain disruptions to grow a respectable 0.8 per cent in the first three months of the year and 3.3 per cent annually. The result was ahead of market expectations for 0.7 per cent growth over the quarter and 3 per cent growth over the year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Accounts.
- Liberal MP Michael Sukkar has survived the Coalition bloodbath across Melbourne’s inner city electorates, beating out Labor’s Matt Gregg to retain the seat of Deakin.Newly sworn-in Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly says the Labor government’s focus will be on tackling policy areas neglected by the previous government.
Regional Queensland home power bills will jump 9.2 per cent to $1290, and business bills 10.2 per cent to a minimum of $2334. Professor Bruce Mountain, a Victoria University energy market expert, says that if current conditions persist, regulators could lift Queensland power bills another 30-50 per cent before the end of 2022-23.“Those customers paying default rate can expect for now to have increases in line with a default rate, but I would not be surprised if there’s pressure on the regulators to reset the price cap within a period of shorter than a year, which is when they said they’re next going to do it.