Australia news as it happened: RBA keeps rates on hold in stun to markets; Erin Patterson found guilty in Victorian mushroom trial

Thanks for joining us today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more live coverage.

Here’s what we covered in case you’re just catching up on today’s headlines:

• The Reserve Bank has stunned the nation by holding official interest rates steady at 3.85 per cent following its two-day meeting. While most of the bank’s board supported the move, the decision was not unanimous, with some board members wanting an immediate rate cut.
• For reference, had the RBA decided to cut by 25 basis points as it has in recent months, the rate would have gone to 3.6 per cent, and people with a $750,000 loan would have been saving an extra $20 a week.
• Erin Patterson has spent her first full day in prison after a jury found her guilty of the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. See our daily podcast below.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off calls for a national cabinet to address antisemitism, arguing Australians want “action” instead of more meetings. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has supported this idea.
• In Queensland, it’s been revealed that the woman recently mauled by a lion had visited the predators about 80 times before she lost her arm.
• And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said US President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

A massive, toxic algal bloom that has killed thousands of fish, sharks and marine animals has spread to a capital city river.

The bloom of the microalgae, karenia mikimotoi, was identified off South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula in March, and grew to more than 4400 square kilometres, close to the size of Kangaroo Island.

Dead sea life in SA caused by the algal bloom.Credit: Great Southern Reef

It has been breaking up recently, spreading north into Spencer Gulf, south into the Coorong wetlands and along Adelaide’s beaches in Gulf St Vincent.

SA Environment Minister Susan Close said the “devastating” bloom had now been detected in Adelaide’s Port River.

“Karenia mikimotoi has appeared in the Port River and is at reasonably high concentrations around Garden Island and Outer Harbour,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

Close said the algae had killed tens of thousands of marine animals from almost 400 species, and authorities were concerned some may be wiped out in the region.

“Although not toxic to humans, it is toxic to anything with gills and anything that seeks to breathe underwater, and we have seen just the beginnings of the extent of the devastation that’s occurred under the sea,” she said.

SA Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven said the government had started talks with the Commonwealth about recovery assistance.

It is not possible for the federal government to declare the incident a national disaster because the definition does not currently include algal blooms, she said.

The SA government announced backdated licence fee relief for commercial fishers, aquaculture and charter boat operators impacted by the bloom.

About $500,000 worth of fees will be waived to help operators, with a promise that more help will be available if needed.

AAP

The local sharemarket has finished about where it began after gyrating between positive and negative territory before and after the Reserve Bank’s surprise decision on interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday closed up 1.4 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 8590.7, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 2.3 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 8828.7.

The ASX200 was slightly in negative territory and then lost 27.8 points in a minute after the RBA left interest rates on hold.

But a late surge in the final minutes of trading was enough to recoup those losses.

AAP

A lawyer whose review uncovered widespread sexual abuse in the Australian Defence Force more than a decade ago has accused the armed forces and government of putting more personnel at risk by failing to act on key recommendations.

Gary Rumble, one of the leaders of a 2011 review commissioned by the government that identified more than 1000 allegations of abuse, said it appeared very little had changed after a royal commission and an investigation in this masthead found abuse was ongoing.

Gary Rumble appearing before a Senate committee hearing in 2014.Credit: Andrew Meares

“As far as I can tell, our report had little, if any, impact on successive governments and the ADF,” Rumble said.

“It is unconscionable that the ADF continues to run recruitment campaigns and advertisements targeted on recruiting women,” he said. “My strong advice to anyone, particularly any woman, considering joining the ADF is to take the time to read just … two pages.”

Read the full story here.

An Israeli restaurant in Melbourne’s CBD has issued a statement after 20 or so people allegedly stormed the venue on Friday night to protest the co-owner’s links to a controversial aid organisation in the Gaza Strip.

Three people were today charged over that incident.

Here is Miznon’s statement in full:

Staying with today’s RBA news for a moment, and shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien was speaking in Sydney earlier.

Here’s a taste of what he told reporters (edited for length and clarity):

Shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Australian households are on their knees, industries are collapsing, businesses are falling over because Labor cannot manage the economy.

We have seen around the world comparable jurisdictions bring down interest rates sooner than what we are seeing in Australia. Here in Australia, under the Albanese government, interest rates have been too high for too long.

Labor continues on its spending spree and, as the RBA itself has recognised, public sector spending is only leading to homegrown inflation.

Until Labor starts reinstalling some discipline around fiscal responsibility, it will only make the job of the RBA harder.

The RBA governor’s press conference has just wrapped up.

But one final thing worth highlighting was an exchange about the possibility of additional US tariffs.

Asked whether the bank was keeping “policy stimulus in reserve for when something bad happens”, Michele Bullock had this to say:

[More tariffs] will be bad for the world economy, [and] bad for Australia as a small open economy that has done very well out of an open trading environment.

Ultimately, how that impacts us will depend on China and how China reacts. 

If China [keeps] its growth going, then that will help to cushion us.

The RBA boss added that pre-COVID, interest rates were very low, and the bank had “hardly any room to move”.

Now, should something bad happen, the bank is in the opposite situation.

“But we are not deliberately holding interest rates higher in order to give ourselves more power … we are reacting to the domestic data, domestic inflation data and find our way through it.”

Bullock acknowledges that mortgage holders have had a tough time, but rejects the premise of a question from a reporter who asked whether home buyers had been betrayed by today’s decision:

I don’t think we’re betraying anyone.

I think betrayal would be to let inflation get out of hand. We’re never going to go back from the level of prices now, but we can at least stop them from rising as quickly.

So I think that households should be banking on us to make sure that we don’t let inflation get away again.

The governor was also asked how many members of the RBA board are mortgage holders. Bullock she said she didn’t know the answer to that question.

Staying with the RBA governor’s press conference, and Michele Bullock has refused to say who voted against today’s majority decision to keep rates on hold.

The governor also declined to say how she voted. This anonymity is in line with the central bank’s new model.

“They’re unattributed votes,” Bullock told the Canberra press pack. “So I can’t tell you who voted what way.

“What I can say is that what it demonstrates, I hope, is that there was really good, active debate in the boardroom about the pros and cons of holding and easing.”

Bullock added that the two camps were split not over the direction of monetary policy, but “more about timing”.

The RBA governor finished her opening remarks by stating that the board’s strategy has been to bring down inflation while avoiding a sharp rise in unemployment:

This strategy has meant that we didn’t take rates as high as some other countries, and so it may be that we don’t need to reduce rates as much as some other countries have done.

In summary, we must keep inflation down while trying to maintain a healthy jobs market, because when inflation is low and stable and people can get jobs, it’s good for households, good for communities, and good for the broader Australian economy.

And when inflation is low and stable, people don’t need to spend time thinking about it. And households and businesses can instead focus on what’s important to them.