The Reserve Bank has done what homeowners were dreading by hiking interest rates again to 4.35 per cent.

The latest rate hike has put millions of Australian borrowers back to square one.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has handed down a third consecutive interest rate hike, increasing the cash rate target to 4.35 per cent.

Nine Money editor Effie Zahos acknowledged the latest decision was a blow for households.

AS IT HAPPENED: RBA to hand down interest rate

"The RBA is hoping three rate hikes will make inflation right, but for households right now this is disastrous," she said.

"You're looking basically, depending on the mortgage size, around $100 more for the month."

An owner-occupier with a $600,000 mortgage and 25 years remaining at the start of this year's hikes will need to add $91 to their minimum monthly repayments with the 0.25 per cent rise, according to estimates from financial comparison website Canstar.

The total increase across three consecutive hikes would be $272 a month.

Australians with a $500,000 mortgage over 25 years can expect to pay about $76 extra a month, while those owing $700,000 will need to pay an additional $107 a month.

Owner-occupiers with $800,000 left on their mortgage can expect to pay an extra $122 each month.

Those with $900,000 will likely need to pay an additional $137 a month.

Those owing $1 million could pay an extra $152 following today's rate hike.

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Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said Australians who kept their mortgage repayments the same following the cash rate cuts in 2025, the repayment buffer they had built up would be essentially erased.

"While more than a year of higher repayments won't have been in vain, the strategy will have delivered only a limited cushion against rising rates," Tindall said.

Borrowers are also being told to prepare and calculate how much repayments will be if there are two further hikes in June and August.

Tindall recommends borrowers contact their lender and request a rate review.

"Haggling should be borrowers' first port of call, because picking up the phone can potentially produce near-immediate relief," she said.

"However, banks aren't handing out discounts as freely as they were a couple of years ago.

"If your bank won't budge when you haggle, don't take it personally, instead, take your business elsewhere."

Haggling can only take your rate so far. Those who want the sharpest rates are likely to have to refinance.

Borrowers should ask about hardship assistance if repayments are becoming difficult and they have already negotiated with their lender.

Independent financial advice is available from the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

Residents who felt the quakes have shared rattled nerves and shaking homes.

Unveiling Victoria's 2026/27 budget papers today, Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes were all smiles as they announced the state's first operating surplus in seven years, ahead of a crucial election campaign. 

This year's budget put forth a $727 million surplus in 2025-26 and estimated $1 billion in 2026-27, with an average $1.7 billion surplus over the forward estimate.

"I am proud to confirm Victoria's first operating surplus in seven years," Symes said in her budget address.

READ MORE: All the winners and losers from this year's Victorian budget

But behind the polished veil of an operating surplus, budget papers reveal that when project spending is factored in, Victoria's spending is about $7 billion more a year than the revenue it is bringing in.

Figures in the budget reveal a record tax take and a $2 billion GST windfall from the Commonwealth is to thank for this year's operating surplus.

That allowed the state to deliver a raft of sweeteners, including free public transport until the end of May and 20 per cent off vehicle registration.

"We can afford it because our budget is in surplus," Allan wrote in a budget media release.

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Shadow Treasurer James Newbury was quick to label Labor's fiscal strategy a "fake surplus" during question time, while Nationals leader Danny O'Brien also criticised the budget.

"The only thing we see in this budget that's in surplus … is a surplus of spin," O'Brien said.

Net debt in Victoria is hurtling towards $200 billion and is projected to take up a 24.4 per cent share of the state's economy by 2030.

"We have seen net debt soar towards $200 billion in Victoria. When the Coalition left office in 2014, it was $20 billion," Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said.

READ MORE: Major tax reform, spending cuts and defence boost: What you can expect in this year's 'ambitious' federal budget

"Victorians now will be paying an interest bill that could fund police, ambos and kindergartens and leave a billion dollars in change."

Victoria's interest bill is expected to almost double by 2029/30, rising from $6.774 billion in 2024/25 to $11.82 billion in 2029/30 – the equivalent of $32.38 million per day.

But Symes argued the state's rising interest bill was "helping to grow the economy".

"The reason you pay interest predominantly is because you've borrowed to build productive infrastructure … the alternative is you don't build infrastructure, you stop. And all of those jobs I just talked about go," she said.

"You might have less debt, you might have less interest, but you don't have a productive society.

"Borrowing for infrastructure is what a strong economy needs."

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Today's budget also failed to reveal the impact of Labor's promise to spend an extra $11.5 billion on the Suburban Rail Loop.

The $34 billion project is supposed to be equally funded by the state, the Commonwealth and "value capture".

But in January the government committed to funding that final third through "up-front debt" which will be recouped over 40 years via localised taxes, raising major concerns over potential interest implications.

In an effort to rake in additional revenue, the Allan government will end its motor vehicle duty concession for luxury vehicles, which is expected to bring an extra $12.6 million into the state's coffers in 2027/28.

Victoria will also collect more revenue from fines, which is expected to rise more than 15 per cent from $886 million in 2026/27 to $997 million in 2029/30.

Some of those extra funds will flow to rising public sector wages, which are tipped to pass $41 billion in the next year – $1.3 billion higher than forecast.

By 2030, those figures will hit $45 billion, which Symes said was evidence of the government's endeavour to recruit more teachers and healthcare workers.

"We back our teachers, our nurses, our police. We want more of those people employed, that's why the figures go up," Symes said.

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The man tinkered with a parked car before a nearby pedestrian seemingly sent him running.

Police stand accused of engaging in impropriety when raiding the home of former shock jock Alan Jones during a sexual assault investigation.

Officers searched the 85-year-old's Sydney home in November 2024 after an eight-month investigation into reports of historical sexual abuse.

On Tuesday, his lawyers told Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court the NSW Police should reveal which officers accessed or downloaded material from his phone and through intercepted calls, claiming the search warrants could be invalid.

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"The phone was seized, and the evidence to date suggests it was then searched willy-nilly," his barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC said.

On its face, the search warrant was "bad", she continued, partly because it referred to Jones being accused of sexual intercourse without consent, amongst other offences.

These were not the charges the radio veteran was eventually hit with, Bashir argued.

Jones has pleaded not guilty to 25 charges of indecent assault and two charges of sexual touching against nine alleged victims over nearly two decades when he ruled the airwaves.

Bashir flagged that her client might apply to either temporarily or permanently halt the proceedings, or argue that certain evidence be tossed because it was obtained unlawfully.

Representing the NSW Police Commissioner, barrister Peter Singleton said there was no evidence officers had engaged in any sort of impropriety or that the warrant itself was invalid.

He said the court should not order the release of documents merely to allow Jones' defence team to see if there was anything there to support a future bid to put the case on ice.

"It is fishing to find out whether or not there is a case," he told Judge Glenn Walsh.

Jones is set to contest the allegations in a four-month-long hearing starting in August.

His defence team has been fighting to gain access to documents from the police as well as the complainants in the matter.

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In March, Bashir told the court they were still awaiting "oodles of material" to be produced.

Jones is accused of sexual misconduct against nine complainants between 2003 and 2020, both in private and in public places such as restaurants and at high-profile events.

Two of the alleged victims were acting as chauffeurs for the former private school teacher when he indecently assaulted them, according to prosecutors.

The charges, which Jones has claimed are "all either baseless or they distort the truth", followed his retirement from a hugely influential broadcasting career launched in 1985.

During his decades on the air, Jones became a feared interviewer who excelled at questioning leaders while dividing audiences with his outspoken views.

He worked with Sydney radio station 2UE before joining rival 2GB, where he was a long-time ratings juggernaut until 2020.

READ MORE: Major tax reform, spending cuts and defence boost: What you can expect in this year's 'ambitious' federal budget

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