Key posts
- Australia signs deal to counter scourge of human trafficking
- Rate pain best bet to avoid recession: RBA
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Australia signs deal to counter scourge of human trafficking
Australia will today complete a deal with Thailand to counter human trafficking as the Albanese government confronts disturbing revelations of sexual exploitation of migrants by a criminal operation on Australian soil.
In Bangkok for the latest leg of her south-east Asian charm offensive, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong will sign off on Australia’s support of a new training centre to counter trafficking – the first of its kind in the region – when she meets with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong wants to help combat human trafficking.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Human trafficking has been a long-standing stain on Thailand, with victims including children subjected to forced labour and sex; smuggling networks taking advantage of Burmese migrants – with the backing of figures within authorities – and Thai nationals exploited elsewhere in the world.
“Human trafficking is a scourge that, together, we must work to end,” Wong said.
More on this issue here.
Rate pain best bet to avoid recession: RBA
Australia risks a “severe recession” that would drive up unemployment if inflation is not brought under control, the Reserve Bank has warned, after lifting official interest rates for a record seventh consecutive month.
Bank governor Philip Lowe, just hours after taking the official cash rate to a nine-year high of 2.85 per cent yesterday, said even higher interest rates would be necessary to deal with the “evil of inflation” if prices continue to climb.
The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates for a seventh consecutive month.Credit:Louie Douvis
The bank lifted interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point despite revealing it now expects the economy to slow through 2023 and 2024 as households wind back their spending due to tighter monetary policy.
On an $800,000 mortgage, the rise will lift monthly repayments by $122 to almost $4300. It is a near-$1100 a month increase since the RBA started increasing interest rates in early May.
Read the full story here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning and thanks for your company.
It’s Wednesday, November 2. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started.
- Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has flagged that he’s willing to increase interest rates even further, if necessary, to deal with inflation. Yesterday, the RBA took the official interest rate to a nine-year high of 2.85 per cent.
- Australia will today ink a deal with Thailand to counter human trafficking. It comes after this masthead revealed allegations of migrants being sexually exploited by a criminal operation based on Australian soil.
- A second group of Australians who are relatives of Islamic State fighters is expected to be repatriated from Syria and resettled in Sydney within weeks. But a third contingent, bound for Melbourne, likely won’t arrive until at least next month (after the Victorian election).
- Online wagering companies will soon ditch the phrase “gamble responsibly” in favour of new taglines that prompt gamblers to consider the consequences of losing a bet.
- In international news, Russian-installed authorities have reportedly evacuated 70,000 people as Ukrainian forces push to recapture the southern port city of Kherson.
- And the minister responsible for the UK’s pandemic response has been suspended from the country’s ruling Conservative Party after signing up to appear on a TV show filmed in Australia.
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