dailynewsnblog
Key events
Patrick Commins
Carolyn Hewson, an independent member of the Reserve Bank’s rate-setting board, said the global oil shock has made it more “complex” to manage monetary policy, but that it was wrong to frame the central bank’s deliberations as a “stark choice” between “prioritising inflation or prioritising jobs”.
The RBA has hiked interest rates three times this year as it attempts to juggle a (hopefully) temporary stagflationary shock from surging fuel prices that is pushing unemployment and inflation higher.
Hewson’s address at Adelaide University last night gave little extra insight into what the RBA will do next on rates.
But it was notable as the first of its kind since the central bank committed to having each of its independent board members deliver at least one speech a year.
“Supply constraints push inflation higher at the same time as they weaken economic activity and employment,” Hewson said, in a nod to the impact from the closure of the strait of Hormuz.
It is often said that central banks face a stark choice in such moments between prioritising inflation or prioritising jobs.
But “that framing misses the point”, she said.
It is not a question of which objective matters more; instead, it is about understanding that they are generally complementary over the longer term.
Seen this way, the RBA’s dual mandate is an expression of economics in service of the broader public interest.
Something to keep in mind the next time the RBA pushes up your mortgage costs. For the record, that could happen as soon as August.
Catie McLeod
Amanada Rishworth also flagged changes to so-called mutual obligations, which require jobseeker recipients to prove that they have applied for a certain number of jobs in order to continue to receive welfare payments.
But she said the contentious system would remain, despite criticism from some welfare advocates.
She told 7.30:
Mutual obligations have been a feature in the system for a long time. [They] play a really important role.
It is part of the social contract that, if you’re receiving income support … and you’re able to work, you do take steps to find a job.
What I think is being commented on, where I do agree, is that there’s no point in having pointless, meaningless mutual obligations.
Rishworth defends jobseeker work program
Catie McLeod
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, has said she is concerned there is “varying quality” among the providers meant to help welfare recipients find work, but defended keeping private companies in the system.
Rishworth was interviewed on the ABC’s 7.30 program last night, after announcing at the National Press Club in Canberra that Labor would amend the unemployment system for jobseeker recipients.
The exact details of the new system were not announced yesterday, but it is set to be separated into three streams depending on a jobseeker’s skill level and work readiness.
Asked by 7.30 if she accepted the some of the responsibility for the “failures in the current system” were due to for-profit job providers who “ignore the more difficult cases”, Rishworth said:
I would say that I am concerned that there is varying quality in the system. So I am focused on how we lift quality.
Stream one, really is about the public service delivery. Stream two is more like the services we understand today.
Stream three, I imagine, will be different types of providers – they will have deep connection with community and be able to do this specialised, intensive work.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, was on 7.30 last night defending her decision not to get rid of the controversial for-profit aspects of the jobseeker program. More coming up.
The eSafety commissioner told Senate estimates last night that she is yet to finalise the investigations into five social media platforms for failing to comply with the under-16s social media ban, stating that she doesn’t have a “fine-issuing button” to deal with the problem. More to follow.
