Key events
Mortgage-holders will be about $8000 better off on average if a slowdown in inflation paves the way for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut rates as expected, AAP reports.
Data to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday is widely tipped to show core inflation for the December quarter was substantially lower than the RBA’s forecasts.
With underlying inflation moving sustainably back to target and Australia’s economy growing at its slowest rate since the 1990s – outside the pandemic – the door should be opened to an interest rate cut in February, Deloitte Access Economics Partner Stephen Smith said.
On the other hand, tightness in the labour market, elevated government spending and a falling Australian dollar were militating against a cut.
But Mr Smith still expects 75 basis points of cuts in 2025 followed by a further 75 basis points in 2026.
“By the end of the rate-cutting cycle, a household with an average-sized mortgage and a variable mortgage rate would be around $8000 better off in today’s dollars,” he said.
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Andrew Messenger
The verdict in a mammoth trial of 14 members of a Toowoomba religious sect accused of causing the death of an eight-year-old member with diabetes is expected to be handed down in Queensland today.
Elizabeth Struhs died on 6 or 7 January 2022, allegedly of diabetic ketoacidocis due to not being provided insulin.
Her father, Jason, is on trial for murder, as is Brendan Stevens, the head of the Toowoomba order, known as the Saints.
Elizabeth’s mother Kerrie and brother Zachary are charged with manslaughter, alongside 10 other members of the Saints.
The Queensland supreme court sat for nine weeks last year before Justice Martin Burns adjourned the case to consider his verdict in September.
The Saints, who repeatedly told the court that they believe Elizabeth will be raised from the dead, refused legal counsel and did not enter pleas. Pleas of not guilty were entered on their behalf.
Jason Struhs allegedly withdrew some of his daughter’s insulin on 1 January and all of it on 3 January 2022. As her health deteriorated, the Saints are alleged to have sung and prayed for her healing or resurrection – and accused of not calling an ambulance.
If Jason Struhs and/or Brendan Stevens are convicted it would be the first time a person has been convicted of murder in Queensland “by reckless indifference”.
Justice Burns will begin handing down his judgment, which is expected to be lengthy, at 11.30am Brisbane time.
In a separate case, Kerrie Struhs was convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life when Elizabeth fell into a coma in 2019, also as a result of her type 1 diabetes.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Caitlin Cassidy for the bulk of the day.
It’s not often that the release of economic statistics can be described as highly anticipated. But it holds true for millions of Australians about today’s inflation numbers and their potential impact of interest rates. And that’s not to mention Anthony Albanese, who is trailing Peter Dutton in the polls and could do with a better story to tell about the economy. More coming up and the figures are out at 11.30am.
Verdicts are expected later this morning in the trial of Jason Struhs and 13 other members of the religious group he belonged to over the death of his eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who suffered from diabetes.
One of the people attending the commemoration at Auschwitz was Australia’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus. Three of his grandparents died at the hands of the Nazis and today he writes a moving piece about the “shocking rise in antisemitism in Australia” and how attempts to politicise the issue must be rejected. He simply says: “Today I say never again.”