Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. The Reserve Bank of Australia has
Speaker 1: put the cash rate up for the first time in
Speaker 1: two years. Mortgage rates will now rise as one lender
Speaker 1: after another follow suit. The cash rate determines how much
Speaker 1: it costs banks to borrow money the money they lend
Speaker 1: us to buy homes. A rise in the cash rate
Speaker 1: inevitably means lenders jack up their home loan rates. It's
Speaker 1: a unanimous decision by the Monetary Policy Board of the
Speaker 1: Reserve Bank, and it's being interpreted by economists as a
Speaker 1: major blow to Labour's economic agenda as it prepares for
Speaker 1: a budget in May. The Bank said in its decision
Speaker 1: that it had underestimated the heat in the economy and
Speaker 1: although inflation has fallen steadily since twenty twenty two, it
Speaker 1: is picked up materially in the second half of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. The Bank said it judges that some of
Speaker 1: the increase in inflation reflects grade at capacity pressures. That is,
Speaker 1: higher household consumption, government spending and business investment is driving
Speaker 1: up the prices of materials and goods that power, construction
Speaker 1: and the materials we all consume. The Bank is also
Speaker 1: concerned headline inflation is going to keep rising, a significant
Speaker 1: lift on its previous forecast to four point two percent
Speaker 1: by June before falling to three point six percent in December.
Speaker 1: That's well outside the Bank's target range, where inflation should
Speaker 1: be between two and three percent. You can read all
Speaker 1: our analysis right now at the Australian dot com dot
Speaker 1: au and come back to the front first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning for another bombshell twist in the Brittany Higgins saga.
Speaker 1: Former staff for Fiona Reynolds is suing the Commonwealth and
Speaker 1: says she was frightened and intimidated by Scott Morrison's actions
Speaker 1: after Higgins made her allegation of rape. She also says
Speaker 1: she was frozen out by Morrison's office and left in despair.
Speaker 1: See you back here first thing Wednesday.