Inflation has dropped to 3.5% in the year to July, from 3.8%, as fuel prices rebounded in the month and building costs jumped.
The headline rate was down but came in substantially stronger than economists had predicted, with the consensus forecast for inflation to drop to 3.2%.
The ABS data also showed the Reserve Bank’s preferred measure of underlying inflation also holding at 3.6%, rather than moderating to 3.5% as had been expected.
The cost of home building was the largest contributor to the annual headline inflation rate, climbing by 5% in the year, while grocery prices climbed by 3.2%.
Financial markets ahead of the latest consumer price data were pricing in a roughly 60% chance of an RBA interest rate hike by December, and this morning’s figures make another rate increase more likely.
What is inflation and how does it affect you? | News glossary – video
Further to the news just now that federal Labor MP Luke Gosling has stepped aside from his special envoy role, you can read more on the background to that, and the charges laid against him, here:
Northern Territory Labor MP Luke Gosling has stood aside as Anthony Albanese’s special envoy for veterans and northern Australia, a day after police charged him with one count of breaching bail conditions.
He is fighting charges from July, when he was arrested over the alleged assault of the territory’s administrator, David Connolly.
Albanese and Gosling had resisted pressure for him to stand aside from the envoy role, which is not part of the federal ministry.
He said in a statement on Wednesday:
Due to the ongoing media attention and the distraction that this is causing to the business of government, I have decided to temporarily stand aside as special envoy for defence, veterans’ affairs and Northern Australia, until these matters have been heard.
Inflation has dropped to 3.5% in the year to July, from 3.8%, as fuel prices rebounded in the month and building costs jumped.
The headline rate was down but came in substantially stronger than economists had predicted, with the consensus forecast for inflation to drop to 3.2%.
The ABS data also showed the Reserve Bank’s preferred measure of underlying inflation also holding at 3.6%, rather than moderating to 3.5% as had been expected.
The cost of home building was the largest contributor to the annual headline inflation rate, climbing by 5% in the year, while grocery prices climbed by 3.2%.
Financial markets ahead of the latest consumer price data were pricing in a roughly 60% chance of an RBA interest rate hike by December, and this morning’s figures make another rate increase more likely.
What is inflation and how does it affect you? | News glossary – video
Roberts ‘in two minds’ about whether gay people should be equal
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts told a conference earlier this year that he was in “two minds” about whether gay people should have equal rights.
In footage from June’s Church and State conference, released on Sunday, the senator can be seen responding to a question about James Ashby, the party’s director, who is gay.
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts. Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP
Both Roberts and the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, appeared at the conservative Christian conference.
In the footage, Roberts described Ashby as bright, honest and straight.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre reflects on the Tampa affair, 25 years on
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says Australia remains locked in a “distorted debate” about immigration, 25 years on from the Tampa freighter that launched a new era of migration policies in the country.
Kon Karapanagiotidis, the ASRC’s founder, said in a statement:
Politics poisons policy, and there is no greater example than Australia’s treatment of people seeking asylum. Twenty-five years ago, Tampa presented Australia with a choice: meet people rescued at sea with humanity and protection, or choose fear. Our political leaders chose fear, and we have been living with the consequences ever since.
Tampa didn’t just change refugee policy. It changed Australian politics.
He went on:
25 years later, we still hear the same drumbeat of fear. Inflammatory headlines. Migration reduced to numbers. People seeking asylum turned into political problems. We deserve better than another generation of this politics.
Guardian Australia’s Ben Doherty detailed the Tampa affair in a piece on its 20th anniversary in 2021. Take a look:
Nine lifts profits while turning focus to streaming and broadcast
Australia’s largest locally owned media group has lifted its annual earnings as it continues to focus on its streaming and broadcast assets, including Stan, 9Now and digital publishing, AAP reports.
Nine Entertainment, which also owns 9 Network and major mastheads such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, said those divisions were expected to contribute more than 60% of its revenue in the new financial year.
The group made a 2025-26 bottom line net profit of $510.6m, on a consolidated basis, up from $133.3m in the previous year ended 30 June. Chief executive Matt Stanton said:
We will continue to invest in premium content and focus on opportunities to maximise the reach and commercialisation of that content, whilst continuing to explore technology initiatives that help to expedite growth opportunities.
Nine offices in Sydney. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Commissioner to delay final report into antisemitism to allow for commemorations of Bondi attack
Commissioner Virginia Bell will delay – but only by four days – the handing down of her final report into antisemitism and social cohesion, in order not to distract from commemorations of the Bondi attack.
On the last day of public hearings of the commission, Bell resisted a public push to extend the commission’s work by several months, in order to hear from more witnesses.
Bell said the letters patent for the royal commission stated her final report should be handed to government on 14 December 2027, the first anniversary of the Bondi terror attack.
She said she had noted the push, including from Jewish community leaders and parliamentarians, to extend the timeframe of her commission, but that the commission had worked hard to address all of its terms of reference “in accordance with that timetable, and I do not seek any meaningful extension of it”.
Among other considerations, I note the evidence that has been given by senior public officials that the implementation of important policy proposals is awaiting the recommendations of this Commission.
But the commissioner said she did not want the release of the report to distract from commemorations.
The 14th of December is the anniversary of the massacre. It will be a solemn occasion marked by memorials. I’m aware of concern within the Jewish community that delivery of the report on the anniversary would be a distraction. I fully understand that concern and to avoid that distraction I have asked for a short extension of the term with a view to the submission of my final report on Friday the 18th of December.
A memorial drawn on a wall at Bondi Beach. Photograph: Steve Markham/AP
Supermarket giant Woolworths says it won’t be running Ooshies giveaways more regularly despite the success of this year’s campaign.
Customers received the blind bags of plastic Disney characters for every $30 they spent at Woolworths from mid-July to mid-August, the latest such campaign from the company. Its annual results today reported they boosted Woolworths’ sales growth by up to 2% compared to the same period in 2025.
Group chief executive Amanda Bardwell told reporters today the campaign had attracted shoppers who wouldn’t normally visit Woolworths. She said:
We see some customers who certainly might decide to add a few more items to their basket while they’re shopping with us so that they certainly qualify for the extra Ooshie. And then we do have some customers who might not shop with us very frequently, who choose to switch to Woolies during that period.
Bardwell said the promotions offered a “great opportunity to go beyond the routine shopping experience and create that real surprise, delight, community moment”.
But asked if Woolworths would capitalise on that momentum, Bardwell said:
As we move forward, collectibles will continue to be part of our offer, but we don’t offer them 365 days of the year. … we don’t think we need to be running them all the time.
Woolworths’ Disney Ooshies. Photograph: Ken Leanfore/Woolworths
Victoria secretly increased transport fares to raise money for Suburban Rail Loop
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian government secretly increased public transport fares to raise money to help pay for the Suburban Rail Loop and other Big Build projects, an auditor general report tabled in parliament this morning reveals.
The report found the government’s plan to fund the first stage of the multibillion dollar project, dubbed SRL East, lacked transparency, and “some funding sources are uncertain”. This includes its target of generating a third of project costs through revenue raising measures.
The auditor general revealed one revenue raising measure: a levy on all public transport fares in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, which the government has used to help fund SRL East and other Big Build projects since 2025.
However, the government has not made this public. The report reads:
The government and Transport Victoria did not acknowledge the new public transport fare levy in their public communications about the 2025 and 2026 annual fare increases. As at June 2026, they still have not announced it.
The report also questions whether it will be completed by 2035, given the project has already “experienced significant delays” of up to six months on early works and station contracts are yet to be awarded. It also said the “on the evidence available to date” the project is “more likely than not to exceed its publicly disclosed cost of up to $34.5bn”.
Construction work for the Suburban Rail Loop at Clayton in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Raphael Arndt has announced he will step down as the CEO of the Future Fund, as the $290bn sovereign wealth fund reported a bumper 14.8% return for the past financial year.
Arndt has been at the fund for almost two decades – essentially since it was set up in 2006 to help pay for the public pension liabilities of government workers.
He has been CEO for the past six years and before that spent the same time as the chief investment officer. Arndt will stay on until the end of the year as they look for a successor, and after that will return to the private sector.
Separately, the Future Fund reported a 10-year return of 9% per annum, beating its target of 7.1%.
Greg Combet, the chair of the Future Fund board of guardians, said 2025-26 was one of the best years in its history.
This result has also been achieved while investing in national priority sectors with the board having now committed around $3.5bn of new investment into domestic housing, infrastructure and the energy transition. The Future Fund now has almost $20bn of investment in domestic infrastructure held in our portfolio.
Future Fund chief executive Raphael Arndt. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Sydney Harbour tunnel partially closed after car fire
The Sydney Harbour tunnel remains partially closed after a car fire, Transport for NSW says.
Officials said the tunnel was initially closed in both directions, but northbound traffic is now open. Southbound traffic remains closed and traffic to the city is being diverted to the Harbour Bridge.
Motorists are encouraged to allow plenty of extra time for travel, and buses are also delayed.
Search continues for pilot who crashed into sea off Northern Territory
An air charter company has confirmed one of its light planes has crashed into the sea off a remote island, with fears held for the pilot as a maritime search continues, AAP reports.
Air Frontier says its twin-engined Beechcraft Baron aircraft went missing just before midday on Tuesday after taking off from Gove airport at Nhulunbuy on the Northern Territory coast with only the pilot aboard.
It was due to land at the remote Indigenous community of Numbulwar at 11.50am but never arrived.
A search led by NT police began after a witness on a vessel reported seeing the plane crash into the sea near Isle Woodah. In a statement on Tuesday evening police said no aircraft wreckage or persons had yet been located.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been notified of the crash and has initiated an investigation.
Woolworths profit soars to $1.14bn as Ooshies continue to drive sales boom
Luca Ittimani
Woolworths’ net profit has boomed 18% to $1.14bn as customers face cost-of-living pressures, the company has reported.
Supermarket sales were up 4.6% in the year to June, its annual results today show. Sales have accelerated since the start of July as the company brought in its Ooshies collectibles promotion, to run 7.6% above the prior year. The company estimates the Ooshies program alone accounted for about a quarter of that growth rate.
The Australian supermarkets division increased the profit margin on its earnings from to 5.5%, from 5.3%. Its pre-tax earnings rose $232m to exceed $2.95bn.
Woolworth’s strong result was helped by Big W returning to profit in the year, with pre-tax earnings of $64m, from a $33m loss the year before. But the department store chain has seen its sales decline in the last eight weeks, despite its inclusion in the Ooshies program.
Woolworths attributed the drop to “ongoing cost-of-living pressures on households, particularly budget customers and weaker trade in the Everyday business”.
Woolworths supermarket in Sydney. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/Reuters