Australia news LIVE: RBA keeps rates on hold in stun to markets; Erin Patterson found guilty in Victorian mushroom trial

Sydney Morning Herald

17 hours ago

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2.39pm
Chalmers to front the media shortly
By Broede Carmody
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is due to speak to the media at 3pm AEDT. Stay tuned for that press conference.
In the meantime, the Labor frontbencher has released the following statement in which he acknowledges the disappointment among the country's mortgage holders:
Today the independent Reserve Bank left interest rates on hold at 3.85 per cent.
It's not the result millions of Australians were hoping for or what the market was expecting.
We have made substantial and sustained progress on inflation which is why interest rates have already been cut twice in five months this year.
We've seen elsewhere that when central banks cut rates, they don't always cut at every meeting.
...
We recognise that people are still under pressure and there's more work to do in our economy and that's why the cost-of-living relief that we're rolling out right now is so important.
The global economy is uncertain and unpredictable but the progress we've made together means we're well placed and well prepared to weather the storm.
We are managing this difficult global environment at the same time as we are building a more sustainable, productive and resilient economy.
2.31pm
RBA keeps rates on hold
By Shane Wright
The Reserve Bank has stunned financial markets and economists by holding official interest rates steady at 3.85 per cent following its two-day meeting.
In the face of ongoing uncertainty around the global economy, caused largely by US President Donald Trump's latest move on tariffs, the bank's monetary policy board decided to wait to see if local inflation pressures will continue to ease.
2.12pm
Shares seesaw ahead of Reserve Bank decision
The local share market has been gyrating between positive and negative territory amid tariff uncertainty and as traders wait for the latest Reserve Bank decision on interest rates.
The ASX200 began trading on Tuesday with a 17-point fall, then climbed 20.7 points into the green in the second hour of trading before sinking back slightly into the red.
At noon the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 7.3 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 8582.2, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 4.5 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 8821.9.
Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said markets had received a 'quick punch in the guts' as Wednesday's US trade deal deadline approached.
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Closer to home, it is widely expected that the Reserve Bank will announce later on Tuesday afternoon that it is cutting the cash rate from 3.85 per cent.
Seven of the ASX's 11 sectors were lower at midday, with consumer discretionary, financials, telecommunications and telecommunications higher.
Consumer staples was the biggest mover, dropping 1.1 per cent as Coles subtracted 1.0 per cent and A2 Milk retreated 3.3 per cent.
In financials, three of the four big banks were higher. CBA had added 0.3 per cent, NAB was up 0.5 per cent and ANZ had advanced 0.4 per cent, while Westpac was down 0.4 per cent.
In currency, the Australian dollar was trading for 65.15 US cents, from US65.24¢ on Monday.
AAP
1.55pm
Former Gold Coast politician accused of murder to stand trial
By Cloe Read
A former Gold Coast politician accused of murdering his stepfather by putting him in a chokehold had searches on his phone the day before the death relating to escaping domestic violence, a court has heard.
Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden, 32, was committed to stand trial on Tuesday over the alleged murder of Robert Lumsden, 58, at the family's Arundel home in 2023.
At the time of his arrest, Bayldon-Lumsden had been the councillor for Division 7 on the Gold Coast, representing the city's inner northern suburbs.
The former politician had been on bail since he was released in 2023.
Further details on this case can be found here.
1.33pm
Urgent biosecurity warning for Sydney's iconic trees
By Angus Dalton
Sydney's majestic Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs could be decimated along with up to 4000 plane trees casting shade and greenery along the city's streets if an invasive tunnelling beetle hitches a ride across the Nullarbor from its stronghold in Perth.
Last month, the Western Australian government admitted it had lost a multimillion-dollar fight to eradicate the polyphagous shot-hole borer, a tiny beetle originally from South-East Asia that has devastated 4500 trees in Perth, including 20 towering much-loved figs that were chainsawed and mulched.
Now plant pathologist and chief scientist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor Brett Summerell, has sounded the alarm over the urgent biosecurity threat the beetle poses to Sydney.
1.18pm
This afternoon's headlines at a glance
By Broede Carmody
Good afternoon and thanks for reading today's live coverage.
I'm Broede Carmody and I'll be anchoring the national news blog for the rest of the afternoon.
Here's what you need to know if you're just joining us.
We're about an hour away from learning whether the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates.
Erin Patterson is spending her first full day in prison after a jury found her guilty of the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off calls for a national cabinet to address antisemitism, arguing Australians want 'action' instead of more meetings. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has supported calls for a national cabinet to tackle antisemitism.
In Queensland, it's been revealed that the woman recently mauled by a lion had visited the predators about 80 times before she lost her arm.
In international news, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said US President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
And hopes are fast fading in the search for additional survivors in the Texas flash flooding disaster.
12.55pm
How a photographer made a 'bizarre' contraption to snap mushroom killer
By Cassandra Morgan, Marta Pascual Juanola and Jason South
They are the pictures purchased by media outlets across the world, splashed on front pages. Erin Patterson, in a prison van, mid-meltdown.
Now, we have the inside story of how photographer and journalist Martin Keep managed to capture the defining images of the high-profile trial.
Patterson believed the confines of her prison van would shield her from the media's relentless gaze – but she was wrong.
On Monday, May 12 – two weeks into Erin Patterson's trial in the usually quiet Victorian country town of Morwell – most of the photographers and journalists covering the murder trial were taking the opportunity of a jury-free day to get some well-earned rest.
Martin Keep, though, ventured out into the bitter cold, a custom rig held high above his head with studio flashes twisted around his camera. It was a bizarre creation, and something that Keep's colleagues had never seen before.
12.10pm
Lioness was 'just playing' when she mauled woman
By Cameron Atfield and Brittney Deguara
And now to news in Queensland, where we have just received new details about the Darling Downs Zoo lion attack.
A woman mauled by a lion at Queensland zoo had visited the predators 'about 80 times' before she lost her arm in the fateful attack.
Darling Downs Zoo co-owner Steve Robinson has confirmed the victim of the attack on Sunday morning was his sister-in-law, who had 20 years' experience with the lions, with the ordeal 'still very, very raw' for the zoo community.
Speaking to media outside the reopened zoo on Tuesday morning, Robinson said the woman – a teacher visiting from NSW – was 'not terribly lucid' so it was not yet clear how the accident occurred.
'We haven't really pressed for answers as to what she was doing and how this happened,' he said.
Robinson said at the time of the incident, which was 'over in a split second', the woman was with her sister – Robinson's wife and co-owner Stephanie Robinson – and the zoo's carnivore keeper.
11.10am
Hopes fade for Texas flood survivors as death toll passes 100
By Emily Kowal
The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas has surpassed 100, as hopes fade of finding survivors.
At least 104 people have died after an eight-metre wall of water demolished a number of counties in central Texas at the weekend.
In hard-hit Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps for children, searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, according to Kerr County officials.
Deaths in nearby counties brought the total number of deaths to at least 104.
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Ten girls and a counsellor were still unaccounted for at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river.
As the death toll increased, officials in Kerr County have revealed little about what, if any, actions they took to safeguard residents, tourists and visitors in an area known as 'flash-flood alley'.
Kerr County officials have deflected a series of pointed questions about preparations and warnings as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions.
'Today's not the day and now's not the time to discuss the warnings, who got them, who didn't got them. Right now I'm only worried about public safety,' Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said during an emergency session of the county commissioners court.
Survivors have described the floods as a 'pitch-black wall of death' and said they received no emergency warnings.
With AAP, AP, Reuters
10.41am
'You should get it': Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
By Emily Kowal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes US President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Netanyahu nominated Trump for the prestigious award, and handed the president a nomination letter during a meeting at the White House.
'He's forging peace as we speak,' Netanyahu said.
'In one country and one region after the other. So I want to present to you, Mr President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It's nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it.'