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and more. Nightlife,

0:08

news breakdown. Well some goodish news

0:10

on inflation today. The latest figures show

0:12

the pace of inflation continues to slow.

0:15

The headline rate now at 6%.

0:17

That's below what many thought

0:19

that compared with the 6.2 pace

0:21

expected by economists and was down from 7% in

0:24

the March quarter.

0:25

Well it does in some people's

0:27

opinion increase the likelihood the Reserve Bank might

0:30

extend its interest rate pause next week. Not

0:33

everyone agrees with that. However, rents

0:35

rose at their fastest quarterly pace in 35

0:37

years so plenty of people are still doing it tough when

0:40

it comes to housing. Now the Treasurer Jim

0:42

Chalmers was perhaps predictably

0:44

happy saying inflation is continuing to moderate,

0:46

albeit slowly. It's really pleasing to see

0:49

that inflation in our economy is moderating

0:51

further. We'd like to see it moderate faster

0:54

but we are making welcome

0:55

progress in this fight against

0:58

inflation. Although the opposition says the

1:00

government should take further steps to put more downward

1:02

pressure on inflation, again perhaps you

1:04

think they would say that. This is

1:06

the shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Inflation

1:09

is still running rampant right

1:11

across Australia. Let's

1:13

be clear, prices are not coming

1:15

down. Prices have gone up by 6%

1:18

in the last 12 months

1:20

and Australians are feeling

1:22

real pain. Alright,

1:25

well joining us once again for Nightlife News Breakdown, Amy

1:27

Remeika, Scuddy and Australia's political reporter. Amy,

1:29

good evening. Welcome to Nightlife.

1:31

Good evening. Thanks for having me. Well, maybe the

1:33

strict RBA discipline or the rate rise after

1:35

rate rise after rate rise is working

1:38

perhaps.

1:39

Well, I don't know about

1:42

that, especially considering that that strict

1:44

RBA discipline is

1:46

only impacting one third of households,

1:49

people with mortgages. So I'm not sure

1:51

it's entirely to get all the congratulations

1:54

for this. It's

1:56

a weird situation that we've been in and we've spoken

1:58

about this before because This isn't coming from

2:00

demand. It's coming from supply. So

2:03

there's a lot of issues outside of

2:05

the government's control, like energy prices

2:07

and the war in Ukraine and all of those sorts

2:09

of things which have driven this, including

2:12

probably having too much stimulus during

2:14

the COVID time. And then when the borders reopened

2:17

and everything got going again, there was

2:19

a bunch of extra money floating around

2:22

in the economy. So it's good news

2:24

that it is tracking down, that we're seeing

2:27

that downward trend with inflation. It's

2:29

also actually

2:29

good news on the employment

2:32

front because we currently have 3.5% unemployment. And

2:37

we've been told for decades that

2:39

you can't have that low unemployment

2:42

and also see inflation come down. Well,

2:44

it turns out that maybe you can. So

2:46

I think there's going to be a little bit of rethinking

2:48

of some of the models and the assumptions

2:51

that we use to underpin the economy. But

2:53

in terms of what we're going to do over the next

2:55

couple of months, it's still going to be quite

2:57

rough. Yeah, no, exactly.

3:00

And we

3:02

might indeed avoid

3:04

the predicted recession. That seems

3:07

to be the more common

3:09

view now. Although tough times, as

3:11

you say, for a lot of people, particularly renters,

3:13

and there doesn't seem to be much optimism

3:17

on the horizon for them either.

3:19

No. And I am one of those renters

3:21

who has just seen another rent increase

3:23

for absolutely no reason. So

3:26

solidarity with everyone else in that same

3:28

position. But I think that one

3:31

of the issues is that we've had a failed housing

3:33

policy for 10 years, which is something that we've

3:35

also spoken about. But we've also seen

3:37

since COVID times that people are wanting

3:40

to work from home, so they're

3:42

not wanting to go back to their offices and they

3:44

want a bit more space. So there's less

3:46

people in the amount of homes that

3:48

we do

3:49

have, which is putting a lot of pressure on it.

3:51

But at the same time, this is something that

3:53

the government could actually act on. They

3:55

could actually start to increase the housing

3:58

supply. And we could see a turn around.

3:59

around, although not in the

4:02

next year or so, which is when we really,

4:04

really need this to happen. And it's

4:07

still unsure as to how the RBA

4:09

is going to react to this because inflation

4:12

has not gone down to its target range

4:14

of 2% to 3%. And there

4:16

are still some economists who think that there's at least

4:19

one more interest rate rise in the RBA.

4:21

So it is going

4:23

to be another rough

4:25

couple of months. Yeah,

4:27

expect some. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister,

4:29

Mr Albanese, who never seems to be in one place for very

4:31

long, is on his first official

4:34

trip in the top job to New

4:36

Zealand to meet his trans-testman

4:38

counterpart, Chris Hipkins. Now, the visit

4:40

marks the 40th anniversary of the CER

4:43

Free Trade Agreement, Close Economic

4:45

Relations. It's probably the

4:48

least remarked on it, least regarded, I

4:50

think, of our free trade agreements. And

4:53

there is a massive basket called

4:55

Who Cares? And then the CER, I

4:57

think, has long been in that

5:00

basket, which does put

5:02

the New Zealanders' noses out of joint. But then

5:04

again, there we are. We love them, though. I

5:07

know. It's the 50th anniversary of the trans-tasman

5:10

travel arrangement, which is something they do

5:12

care about, along with the 80th anniversary

5:14

of mutual diplomatic

5:16

representation. Well, Mr

5:19

Albanese noted, we have no closer ties,

5:21

he said, in making the appropriate suck-up

5:23

noises to New Zealand.

5:25

Australia and New Zealand stand together

5:27

as partners who share a common vision

5:30

for peace, security and prosperity

5:32

in our region. And we stand together

5:35

to uphold the rules-based

5:37

international system. Prime

5:39

Minister Hipkins and my attendants at the

5:41

recent NATO Summit in Lithuania

5:44

highlighted that this vision

5:46

is not limited

5:47

by our geography. The

5:50

thing, a really spiky bit, though, Amy, isn't it, is

5:52

that ever since New Zealand went non-nuclear and

5:54

all that on their own, and

5:58

banned US nuclear ships and so on.

5:59

They've been really in the kind

6:02

of freezer as far as defence

6:04

packs and so on. And the

6:06

Wellington meetings also involve conversations

6:08

about New Zealand, perhaps, perhaps

6:11

underlined four times joining

6:13

the AUKUS packs. Now

6:16

I'm not sure that this would be a popular policy in

6:18

New Zealand amongst the New Zealanders,

6:20

but there you are. The New Zealand

6:23

Government has confirmed it's discussing joining

6:25

the underlined four or five

6:27

times non-nuclear part of

6:29

the AUKUS Alliance. This is

6:32

Chris Hopkins. It's early days yet, so

6:35

there's no formal kind of proposals

6:37

on the table. But of course, we

6:40

ultimately are

6:41

open to continuing that conversation. Not

6:43

quite sure what that means to whether New Zealand manufactures

6:46

ration packs or uniforms and leaves it at

6:48

that. Amy, close tie. What

6:50

are you making?

6:51

I mean, firstly, that was the world's most

6:54

boring press conference. I cannot remember

6:56

one in recent memory, which was as

6:58

boring as the one

7:00

that I watched today between Anthony Albanese.

7:02

They usually are. They're

7:04

not usually that dry. No,

7:07

no, I mean, I mean, press conferences involving summits

7:09

with New Zealand leaders. Well, I

7:11

mean, like Jacinda Ardern got a bit spicy

7:14

with Scott Morrison a few times, particularly when

7:16

it came to Australia sending

7:19

back people who had grown up in

7:21

Australia but had been born in New Zealand. There's

7:23

been a little bit of rupture. AUKUS

7:26

is another rupture in the relationship,

7:29

but everybody is very determined

7:31

to keep the smiles plastered on their faces

7:33

and to play nice while they work this out. But

7:36

I don't think it should come as a surprise that New

7:38

Zealand may be involved in the non-nuclear

7:42

parts of AUKUS. And that

7:44

is because AUKUS is more than nuclear

7:46

submarines. But New Zealand is also

7:49

already really involved in our defence.

7:51

They're part of Five Eyes, the big security

7:54

arrangement. They have their own arrangements

7:56

with Pacific nations. They have their own arrangements

7:59

with

7:59

the...

7:59

US. And so it's not actually surprising

8:02

to say, oh hey, you know, countries

8:04

like New Zealand and even Japan

8:07

and India are going to play a role

8:09

in AUKUS. They may not be part

8:11

of the acronym, but they're certainly going

8:14

to be part of Australia's defence

8:16

strategy. So while it may not be

8:18

particularly popular in New Zealand,

8:20

and I'm

8:21

not sure if it's particularly popular

8:23

in Australia either, to be honest,

8:25

there are, there is a role for New

8:27

Zealand to play here and they're already essentially

8:30

playing it when it comes to security, when

8:32

it comes to bolstering defence ties,

8:34

and also when it comes to just keeping an

8:37

eye on what's happening in the Pacific

8:38

and in China.

8:40

That's true. The visit comes a week after New Zealand's foreign

8:42

minister, Nanai Mahouta

8:45

visited top Chinese diplomats who raised concerns

8:48

at this military tie between Australia, the UK and

8:50

the US. But the push seems to be on

8:53

to try and include New Zealand

8:55

as much as possible. There were some

8:57

question marks raised by the New Zealand opposition foreign

8:59

affairs spokesman, Jerry Brownlee,

9:01

last week about whether AUKUS might make it harder

9:04

for ANSAC forces

9:06

to operate together. Maybe, I don't

9:08

know, what do you think? I

9:11

mean, there's always going to be slight disagreements,

9:14

and I'm not sure whether New Zealand has been happy

9:17

with all the decisions that Australia has made

9:19

in the region and with its alliances.

9:22

But I think a lot of work has gone

9:24

into ensuring that New Zealand

9:27

is okay with what's going. They'll be kept

9:30

as up to breast as anybody can

9:32

with this rapidly moving relationship

9:35

with AUKUS, even though it's rapidly

9:38

moving in diplomatic terms. But

9:40

in terms of what Australia is actually getting,

9:42

well, that's actually slow moving. I

9:44

think everyone understands that AUKUS

9:46

at this point is just a strengthening

9:48

of those strategic ties. It's the

9:51

US wanting to keep more of an eye on China.

9:54

It's the UK saying, hey, remember us,

9:56

we're still here. And it's Australia

9:58

just trying to reassert some dominant...

9:59

in the region and New Zealand has always

10:02

been part of that. Yep, this

10:05

was a cracker. The Prime Minister was asked about the idea of

10:07

a joint Australian New Zealand passport. Kangaroo,

10:11

emu and kiwi on the front perhaps.

10:13

Well you see the New Zealanders are in the preamble

10:16

at the front of the Australian Constitution saying that

10:18

they can join if they want. They never have really

10:21

put up their hand to. Just make

10:23

them the eighth point on the star.

10:25

Just move the Federation star around and

10:27

we're done. Well we could, we could. That'd be welcome.

10:30

Alright look, two other things. The Productivity Commission

10:32

has released the latest Closing the Gap report.

10:35

It doesn't make very comfortable reading,

10:37

does it?

10:38

No, it doesn't. And again,

10:40

this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone

10:42

who is paid even a cursory glance

10:45

at what is happening with Indigenous

10:48

communities and Indigenous health outcomes

10:50

and education outcomes and what's

10:53

happening in the criminal courts and all the rest

10:55

of it. And lo and behold,

10:58

it turns out that so far what

11:00

governments are doing in Australia, and

11:02

I say governments because that includes state and

11:04

territory governments as well, is actually

11:06

making the situations worse in some

11:08

cases. It's not making it better. And

11:10

so it does seem like there does need to be

11:13

some sort of watchdog over what governments

11:15

are doing when they're enacting policies that involve

11:17

Indigenous people. And some people have

11:20

said, well hey, could that be like a voice to parliament?

11:22

And other people have gone, you know what, I think that could

11:24

be a good idea. Maybe we should investigate

11:27

it further. And I think we're having that

11:29

debate right now.

11:30

We are. This is a point that

11:32

Linda Burney made today. If there is

11:34

ever an argument for the need

11:36

for a voice, it is this

11:39

draft report. And the

11:41

important thing is to understand

11:45

that what it's talking about are

11:47

real people.

11:48

But here we go again.

11:50

This Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Everyone

11:52

agrees that there are problems, don't they, Amy?

11:54

But no one seems to have any

11:58

means to agree on what we might do. do better?

12:01

No, because that tends to be where politics

12:03

gets involved and who gets to have the biggest

12:06

say. I mean, there are

12:08

a lot of people on the ground in Indigenous

12:10

communities who are saying, if you actually

12:12

listen to us and let

12:15

elders and Indigenous

12:16

people lead their response, then you will actually

12:19

start to see some changes. But

12:21

we don't tend to have that in

12:23

Australian governments. We tend to have a top-down

12:25

response, and that has not worked.

12:28

We know that hasn't worked report after report

12:30

after report has told

12:31

us that that hasn't worked. And

12:33

it doesn't mean that the voice of Parliament is perfect

12:35

or will even... Or would even make any difference to

12:37

this. It

12:40

would even make any difference. And there

12:42

is absolutely an argument to be made

12:45

over truth and treaty as well

12:47

as to whether that could make more of a difference

12:49

as well, which we've seen that work in

12:51

Canada and we've seen it work in New Zealand.

12:54

But I think the whole argument with

12:57

the yes side of things at the moment is

13:00

how about we try something different and the voice

13:03

of Parliament would be a different way

13:05

of doing things because you actually would have

13:07

an advisory committee enshrined

13:09

in the constitution. It couldn't be scrapped by

13:12

other governments that could

13:14

actually comment on what

13:16

legislation's impact is going

13:18

to have on

13:19

their communities.

13:21

The one thing the Productivity Commission that you can take in the Productivity

13:23

Commission report about this is that they do seem

13:25

to endorse very strongly, don't they? The idea that

13:28

based on the data, the figures, the evidence,

13:31

programs are more

13:33

effective if they're

13:35

guided by and delivered

13:39

by Aboriginal

13:41

groups who have an actual say in the

13:43

proceedings rather than simply delivered

13:45

as top-down approaches from a big

13:47

government department or an NGO.

13:49

I mean, who would have thought that people

13:52

involved would actually know best about

13:54

how to fix things for the people

13:56

involved? It's revolutionary.

13:59

What a complete...

13:59

surprised and shocked that by

14:02

involving communities who we're talking

14:04

about, that they can actually come up

14:06

with the solutions that will work for those communities.

14:10

It's absolutely ridiculous. When you

14:12

think about how much input

14:15

people have when it comes to policies involving

14:17

regional Australia, for instance,

14:20

and what impact a particular government

14:22

policy is going to have on the regions. When

14:24

you think about the impact that

14:27

policies are going to have on business or

14:29

anything like that, we always have those

14:31

people involved who are able to give input

14:34

and help shape and influence the policy

14:36

before it lands in the parliament and

14:39

then it's passed. And yet, when it

14:41

comes to Indigenous issues, we still

14:43

haven't seemed to work it out. And you

14:45

just have to wonder how much longer

14:47

do people have to keep hitting their head against

14:50

a brick wall.

14:51

Amy Ramikis, always good to talk. Thank you for your

14:53

time. Thank you. You've

14:55

just been listening to a Nightlife podcast.

14:58

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