That’s a wrap – thank you for reading the Need to Know blog today. These were some of the main stories:

• New inflation figures show “substantial and sustained progress”: Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the latest inflation data shows “very substantial and sustained progress” Labor has made in the fight against inflation.

• Three dead after seaplane crash off holiday island: Three bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of a crashed seaplane by police divers, Western Australia’s Premier Roger Cook has confirmed.

• Zuckerberg “sucking up to Donald Trump”: Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Meta’s decision to end its long-standing fact-checking program is chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s way of “sucking up to Donald Trump”.

• Taylor lashes “extraordinary” $7.4b budget black hole: Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said it was “extraordinary” the government had put aside almost no money for rising public sector wages, despite the fact it had already agreed to a pay deal with 185,000 public servants.

• Budget reflects best current wage estimates: Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the budget reflects “the best current estimates” available for departmental expenses, after The Australian Financial Review found the Albanese government has put aside almost no money for rising public sector wages.

• Trump escalates threats against Canada, Greenland, Panama: President-elect Donald Trump declined to rule out using military or economic coercion as he detailed plans to seek greater US influence over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal during a press conference on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).