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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the fourth of March twenty twenty six. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know in just five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael Shawan.

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Speaker 1: Five stories, five minutes, let's go. Story number one. Reserve

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Speaker 1: Bank Governor Michelle Bullock has warned that a rate hike

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Speaker 1: at the March board meeting in less than a fortnite

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Speaker 1: is a live options. She said that the Iran conflict

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Speaker 1: and the surge in oil prices are really adding a

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Speaker 1: new inflation risk on top of what was already a

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Speaker 1: very tricky picture for the Central Bank. Headline inflation is

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Speaker 1: running at three point eight percent. We know that trimmed

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Speaker 1: mean is sitting at three point four percent. Both of

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Speaker 1: these are well above the Reserve Bank's target band of

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Speaker 1: two to three percent. That's right.

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Speaker 2: Speaking at the afar's Business Summit, she also defended the

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Speaker 2: February rate hike as the least bad option. He said,

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Speaker 2: it'll take some time to sort out the impact of

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Speaker 2: the Middle East conflict. It's already pushed up energy prices

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Speaker 2: if it slays the world economy, though it could actually

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Speaker 2: reduce anation over time. She admitted the bank got it

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Speaker 2: wrong when it assessed supply and demand and the economy

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Speaker 2: we're coming back into balance in the second half of

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Speaker 2: last year. That of course, prompted it to cut interest rates.

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Speaker 2: Basically misjudged how strong private demand would be in the

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Speaker 2: second half of twenty twenty five. I overestimated the economy's

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Speaker 2: supply potential. She talked about that supply potential being somewhat

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Speaker 2: lower than previously assessed. In English, that just means productivity

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Speaker 2: has been weaker than the Reserve Bank thought.

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Speaker 1: But look agreed that AI could be the.

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Speaker 2: Solution to the country's productivity challenge, but added it won't

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Speaker 2: result in anything anytime soon, and also she didn't think

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Speaker 2: there'll be big job losses in the short term.

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Speaker 1: What does this mean for someone sitting there listening to

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Speaker 1: this right now with a mortgage Sean, So.

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Speaker 2: If you were having they're going to get a rate cut,

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Speaker 2: which we were a couple of months ago. No chance

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Speaker 2: rates went up in February. Now there's a genuine chance

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Speaker 2: of going to go up again in two weeks time.

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Speaker 2: We've got GDP figures coming out today. If that comes

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Speaker 2: and shows that the economy is pretty strong, well we

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Speaker 2: may get a rate high. If it comes and says

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Speaker 2: the economy is weak, that makes it much harder for

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Speaker 2: the Reserve Bank. Does it raise rates into a slowing

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Speaker 2: economy justified inflation, That's a tricky one.

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Speaker 1: Certainly is all right on destory number two now and

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Speaker 1: on day four of the war in the Middle East,

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Speaker 1: the US and Israeli strikes on Iran continued, while Israel

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Speaker 1: exchanged fire with Hesbalah militants in Lebanon. Qatar said it

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Speaker 1: had shot down two Iranian jets, while the US said

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Speaker 1: three of its jets were downed by friendly fire from Kuwait.

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Speaker 1: Iran said the Straight of Humuz was closed and it's

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Speaker 1: threatened to attack ships that are transiting that oil route,

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Speaker 1: which is absolutely vital for the flow of oil throughout

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Speaker 1: the region. And Australia's Middle East ADF headquarters was hit

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Speaker 1: by an Iranian missile. Fortunately, Defense Minister Richard Marles has

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Speaker 1: confirmed that all personnel is safe.

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Speaker 2: That's right. The US Central Command said its forces have

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Speaker 2: destroyed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Command. The Control for the

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Speaker 2: Washington urged its citizens to mediately depart fifteen countries in

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Speaker 2: the region. Of course, that's much easier said than done

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Speaker 2: with limited commercial flights in and out at the moment. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 2: President Donald Trump's at the war could last far longer

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Speaker 2: than four or four weeks. He didn't rule out the

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Speaker 2: possibility of US boots on the ground back home. Foreign

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Speaker 2: Minister Penny wong to the number of Australian stranded in

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Speaker 2: the region dwarfed any previous consular assistance operation, and the

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Speaker 2: Albanese government urged motorists to not panic by petrol ahead

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Speaker 2: of lightly price increases.

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Speaker 1: Story number three. There's been severe flooding shorn across southeastern

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Speaker 1: Australia after what's been described as a once in a

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Speaker 1: generation rain event. A slow moving low has been dumping

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Speaker 1: rain across South Australia, Western Victoria and western New South

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Speaker 1: Wales since the weekend. Some area has actually copped more

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Speaker 1: than one hundred and fifty meals overnight. Flash flood warnings

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Speaker 1: remain active across multiple states. We've got rivers rising, communities

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Speaker 1: are isolated. This really is a crisis.

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Speaker 2: It is a crisis. If we bring it back to

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Speaker 2: the economic effect, insurance premiums premiums they're going to rise.

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Speaker 2: In fact, new dada from Finity this week shows home

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Speaker 2: insurance premiums have risen fifty one percent in five years already.

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Speaker 2: The average premium has gone from just underd two thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars to nearly three thousand dollars. In high risk flood zones,

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Speaker 2: much much worse. For example, there was an example as

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Speaker 2: there was a one Brisbane Homemanner quoted seventy thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: a year for insurance. Crazy. The drivers are catastrophic losses

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Speaker 2: or catastrophe losses, which are catastrophic construction cost inflation and

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Speaker 2: insurance repricing risk for people in these flood affected areas.

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Speaker 2: Right now, this is just the nightmare playing out in

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Speaker 2: real time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, indeed, story n'm afore a bit of a change

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Speaker 1: of pace with this one. Sean Apple has released released

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Speaker 1: a new affordable iPhone priced it just under one thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: It's really pushing to keep its market share from its

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Speaker 1: key rival Samsung and Google. But the launch does come

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Speaker 1: just after Google launch its own low cost offering as well.

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Speaker 2: The new iPhone seventeen and me has double entry level

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Speaker 2: phones capacity at two fifty six gigabytes. Also integrates Apples

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Speaker 2: satellite features, so emerged as the SOST roadside assistance find me,

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Speaker 2: we love that one?

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Speaker 1: You love that one? Michael? Yeah.

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Speaker 2: It runs the latest generation eight nineteen chip and hits

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Speaker 2: shelves next week, this week tomorrow. In fact, Google's affordable

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Speaker 2: ten a pixel phone is available starting price eight forty nine,

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Speaker 2: runs on Google's custom built Tensit G four chip, providing

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Speaker 2: full access to Gemini. The AI assistant looks like Google's

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Speaker 2: competing on software. According to stat Counter, Apple's got sixty

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Speaker 2: one percent of the local market, Samsung twenty five percent,

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Speaker 2: Google just four percent.

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Speaker 1: Last one staring number five weight loss jabs. This is

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Speaker 1: quite extraordinary. They could be given by paramedics at the

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Speaker 1: scene of a heart attack to cut the risk of

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Speaker 1: complications after research has found the drugs like we go

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Speaker 1: Vi and a zempic had a powerful effect in actually

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Speaker 1: preventing tissue damage and that then has the potential to

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Speaker 1: cut the risk of serious problems that affect up to

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Speaker 1: half of all patients suffering a heart attack.

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Speaker 2: A new study led by the University of Bristol and

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Speaker 2: University College Life and looked at golp one drugs now

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Speaker 2: previous studies have been about what they can do to

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Speaker 2: reduce the risk of heart disease. This one, researchers looked

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Speaker 2: at how the drugs could help to reverse blockages caused

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Speaker 2: by cells which can strict blood vessels at the onset

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Speaker 2: of a heart attack and reduce blood flow. So it's

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Speaker 2: actually not before, but during or immediately after the heart attack.

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Speaker 2: In nearly half of all heart attack patients, tiny blood

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Speaker 2: vessels within the heart muscle remain narrowed even if the

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Speaker 2: main artery is cleared. The study found that golp one

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Speaker 2: drugs may prevent this. Quite a breakthrough.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. All right there we go to

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Speaker 1: the top five business stories in five minutes. Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much, Sean.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Michael.

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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the fourth of March twenty twenty six, and

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Speaker 1: please remember to hit follow on the podcast, especially if

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Speaker 1: That playlist is going to disappear in the next couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks, so you must hit follow on this podcast

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Speaker 1: so that you can find us and listen to us

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Speaker 1: in the future. I'm Michael Thompson and that was the

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Speaker 1: Fast five Business News by fear and greed, have a

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Speaker 1: great day.