Speaker 1: Today's Biggest News from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. Inflation has fallen, taking some pressure
Speaker 1: out of the economy, but it probably won't reduce the
Speaker 1: risk of another interest rate rise. The first full inflation
Speaker 1: reading since the government announced a three point three billion
Speaker 1: dollar fuel excise cut shows the consumer price index rose
Speaker 1: four point two percent in the year to March. That's
Speaker 1: down from four point six percent. What is going up
Speaker 1: is electricity costs, up a staggering twenty two point five
Speaker 1: percent over the past twelve months. The easing in headline
Speaker 1: inflation is thanks to that fuel excise reduction, which was
Speaker 1: the government's response to price pressures caused by the Iran War.
Speaker 1: Petrol prices went up nearly thirty three percent in March
Speaker 1: and fell seven percent in April after the policy came
Speaker 1: into effect. The Reserve Bank is mainly interested in underlying inflation,
Speaker 1: which here it three point four percent, up from three
Speaker 1: point three percent in the latest figures. That's well above
Speaker 1: the Central Bank's target range of two to three percent,
Speaker 1: which it uses to determine whether or not to put
Speaker 1: the cash rate up. All this comes after the Australian
Speaker 1: revealed on Wednesday the government has massively increased spending, with
Speaker 1: the budget papers showing federal spending is up thirty six
Speaker 1: billion dollars over the four estimates above the government's last
Speaker 1: update in December. Economists consistently warn that government spending is
Speaker 1: one of the key drivers of inflation, although Treasurer Jim
Speaker 1: Chalmers argues that's not the case. Right now, check out
Speaker 1: that story live right now at the Australian dot com
Speaker 1: dot a U and come back to the front first
Speaker 1: thing in the morning for our good look at the
Speaker 1: most fascinating move in media in a long time. Billionaire
Speaker 1: Jenna Reinhardt is revealed as the money behind a big
Speaker 1: new owner of the Seven network and its radio and
Speaker 1: newspaper assets. So what's Gina up to? That's right here
Speaker 1: Thursday morning.