The Reserve Bank of Australia has today been warned aggressively increasing interest rates would push inflation down but cost hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Internal modelling obtained by The Age newspaper revealed a far-larger 1 per cent hike in May would bring down inflation within its target of 2 per cent to 3 per cent earlier than forecast but it predicted the country's jobless rate would rise to 4.5 per cent next year.

That is the equivalent to 200,000 people losing their jobs over the next 12 months.

READ MORE: Dutton hits Labor over cost of living, migration in budget reply speech

The RBA's Statement on Monetary Policy released earlier this month revealed Australia's near-term inflation is likely to decline faster than previously forecast but did not rule out further interest rate rises.

"Inflation has passed its peak in Australia but remains very high," the central bank said.

It flagged inflation could decline faster if goods inflation eases quickly due to less Aussie consumer spending.

The bank has raised official interest rates at 11 of its past 12 meetings.

The RBA paused interest rises in April but restarted the relentless hikes in its shock May decision to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent.

Economists, major banks and financial markets forecast the central bank to maintain rates at this level until next year despite the RBA not forecasting inflation to move back within its target band until the second half of 2025.

FEDERAL BUDGET: Your two-minute guide

In this week's budget outlook for the domestic economy was a prediction that Australia's interest rates will remain stable at the current level of 3.85 per cent before then falling.

"Financial markets and market economists now expect the cash rate to remain at 3.85 per cent until early 2024, before gradual cuts back to 3 per cent by June 2025," the outlook said.

In the federal budget outlook, Treasury similarly forecasts that inflation has reached its peak and will fall to the target range by 2024 to 2025.

Inflation is expected to fall from 7 per cent in the recent March quarter to 6 per cent in June and before a more drastic plunge to 2¾ per cent in June 2025. This is in line with the RBA's inflation target of between 2 to 3 per cent.

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Babies incapable of giving consent are having their genitals modified across Australia in life-altering, often devastating and unnecessary medical surgeries.

These procedures, aimed at "normalising" the genitals or sex characteristics of intersex children, have long been lashed by activists as well as medical professionals, who are leading a new push to outlaw the practice.

They say the surgeries – which occur in infants as young as two-months-old – are "unnecessary", "irreversible" and cause extremely distressing lifelong side effects.

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An umbrella term to define people born with hormonal, chromosomal or anatomical variations of sex characteristics, intersex refers to the "I" in LGBTIQ+.

These Aussies, many of whom have lived through the procedures, say they've been left scarred for life. 

A large part of the problem is a lack of proper research, Morgan Carpenter, Executive Director of Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) explained.

"A lot of all the clinical research is really aimed at justifying early surgeries," Carpenter told 9news.com.au.

"So there is very little longitudinal data, no systemic data that shows long-term adult effects.

"I mean, doctors themselves told the Senate 10 years ago that they have particular concern about post-surgical sexual function and sensation.

"So, the lack of data in this space is helping to sustain these medical practices. "

Carpenter, who is intersex, said that the loss of sexual function, including the inability to orgasm, is just one of a number of harmful side effects of these "corrective" surgeries.

"These procedures can include things like a gonadectomy, so, the removal of gonads, which is a term for organs like testes and ovaries," Carpenter said.

"It's sterilisation, basically.

"Other surgeries that happen involves include feminising genitals and the creation of surgery to alter a vagina.

"There are infants in Australia who undergo vaginoplasties…and there are also masculinizing surgeries as well.

"There are other people who suffer from functional issues, such as like a narrowing of the vagina or the urethra, which can impair sexual function, but also in impair urination, as well."

READ MORE: 'A pivotal moment in terms of visibility': How a violent clash with police triggered Australia's biggest ever queer movement

Many intersex people have also reported fertility problems, urinary tract issues – including incontinence - and in some rarer cases, incorrect gender assignment in people who have had their sex decided for them at birth.

Some of those who have lived through the procedures also require ongoing medical treatment and repeat surgeries over the course of their lifetime.

While it is parents making the decisions for their children, who often believe they are acting within the infant's best interest, it can cause complex family issues down the line.

"Typically parents are trying to do the right thing; parents love their kids," Carpenter said.

"Parents often hear from doctors, that they need to do these procedures to look after their kids.

"Doctors say that parents are distressed and surgery on a child is a solution to that, but we argue that actually, psychological and psychosocial support would really help instead."

Back in March, the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce proposed laws to protect intersex people from medical procedures modifying their sex characteristics without their consent.

READ MORE: Gender Queer graphic novel gets 'unrestricted' classification in Australia

It's one of just a few places in the world to take such action.

Across the country, the only other region considering any similar response is Victoria, where, in 2021 the government commissioned Equality Australia to develop proposed legal changes.

Ghassan Kassisieh, Legal Director at Equality Australia told 9news.com.au that he's spoken personally with many Aussies left crushed by these choices made for them as babies.

"I think the first thing to note is that there's a really large number of variations, and they're characterised by people whose physical sex characteristics aren't typical for male or female bodies," he said.

"There's decisions being made for babies, that assumes that in things like the gender of the child, that the child will want to have this procedure performed to 'normalise' their body – when the consequences of that procedure might be, for example, impacts on their sexual function.

"We've spoken with a number of people…some people were really, really unhappy about the decision having been made for them.

"They would have made a different decision if they were given the ability to do so.

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"They're being made on behalf people, when we just don't know what what this child will grow up to be…and that's why you can delay those procedures, until the person's old enough to make those decisions."

Kassisieh said that though there were some who weren't overtly bothered by the treatment, "on the whole" most prefer autonomy.

"Some people weren't upset by the decisions having been made, they would have made the decisions themselves," he said.

"But on the whole, the people that we spoke to really wanted that agency, that ability to decide what happens to their bodies.

"We think everyone deserves to decide what happens to their own bodies, and to achieve that, we should have a oversight mechanism that ensures that only procedures that are necessary, go forward.

"And those procedures that are not, wait until the person can make a decision for themselves."

Kassisieh added that Equality Australia are pushing for reforms across Australia to "ensure that people can't make decisions for other people" when it comes to "modifying their sex characteristics" in circumstances where it's not medically necessary to do so.

In 2015, Malta became the first country on the European continent to pass a law banning any kind of surgery or procedure on an intersex minor without their consent.

Since then, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Spain and Portugal have followed suit.

In addition, 50 countries later signed a UN statement in 2021 calling for concrete measures to protect intersex people from medical interventions.

Counselling and referral services for LGBTIQ+ individuals are available through QLife on 1800 184 527 or online.

Dungeons are back and like the Avengers, Link builds an infinity gauntlet. 

Need I say more?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a joy to play; delicately balancing creative freedom with the temples, boss fights and story beats that made the series famous.

Yes, this world feels familiar. It reuses the same basic map as its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, but it would be underselling it to say that Hyrule has changed dramatically.

Trailers asked fans to look to the sky without ever revealing the darkness of The Depths; an entirely new underground realm which more than doubles the size of the world players have to explore.        

You can leap from an island in the atmosphere, dive through a hole in the surface and land in this underground world without any loading screens; which is an astounding achievement on the ageing Nintendo Switch.  

Occasionally, the game's frame rate will stutter or slow when explosions and enemies fill the screen, but never to the point of affecting my enjoyment of the game or its story. 

If you could only buy one game in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom would be my pick. 

After waiting six years to return to this version of Hyrule, Nintendo does not disappoint. 

FAMILIAR BEGINNINGS

Tears of the Kingdom starts in much the same way as its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. 

After Ganon is resurrected and a falling Zelda disappears, the music swells and Link leaps in spectacular fashion through the air, diving into a pond on the Great Sky Island. 

Think the Great Plateau, but suspended in the sky. 

A ghostly king instructs you to complete four shrines and acquire four abilities before you can access the rest of the world.

At this point, I was worried Tears of the Kingdom was a little too familiar. 

That feeling struck again when crossing paths with the character Purah, who suggests Link investigate strange phenomena affecting the people of the Rito, Goron, Gerudo and Zora tribes.

Thankfully, what happened next blew those concerns out of the water. 

I tip-toed around an ominous, gaping hole in Hyrule field and hesitated, frightened of what it was and where it could lead. Beside me was a man peering into the darkness below, who told me off for startling him so close to the edge. I nervously took a leap of faith and watched Link plunge head first into the void. It felt like he was falling hundreds of metres before I spotted a flicker of light, opened his sail cloth and landed safely at the centre of The Depths. 

Engulfed in darkness, I pushed Link toward a faint orange glow in the distance. That glow, turned out to be called a 'light root' which – once activated – illuminated a small pocket of a new world tainted by gloom; a dark red goop that sucks away Link's vitality and lowers his maximum health.

Immediately, a bad cliche sprung to mind: "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore".      

TIME TO BREATHE             

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, like its predecessor, begs players to explore.

And there is undeniably more to uncover when revisiting this Hyrule.

Where you go and what you do is, again, entirely up to you. 

Yes, there are quests to chase but what's impressive is how the world subtly pulls players between the surface, sky and the depths without ever demanding it. 

New items – like the bomb flower – can only be found in the depths. 

Link can (generally) only collect Zonai devices on islands in the sky. 

All are useful on the surface – and vice versa – and there are more meaningful examples I won't spoil here.

It feels so natural in the context of the game world that players may never even notice, but it's impressively balanced to ensure players never get stuck in one place and the surprises keep coming. 

TOYING WITH TIME 

Looking back on Breath of the Wild, fans have criticised how it chose to tell its story. 

Memories you find in that world fill you in on a great war that happened 100 years ago. 

That hasn't changed dramatically in Tears of the Kingdom. 

I won't spoil anything here, but the story goes to some weird and wonderful places. 

Frustratingly, those memories don't play in order. If, like me, you find them wildly out of order, important moments don't land quite the same way.   

What's better, is the balance the game's director Hidemaro Fijibayashi has struck between old school Zelda staples and 'breaking the conventions' of a franchise that's 37 years young.

Dungeons are back and they are executed brilliantly. 

After more than an hour launching higher into the sky with the help of the Rito warrior Tulin, I thought, 'oh cool, this must be a dungeon integrated into the world. I must be close to the final boss'. Then I dove into a floating hurricane, landed on a flying ship and the words 'Wind Temple' appeared on screen.  

Ecstatic does not do my five-second fist pump justice. 

Lleyton Hewitt wishes he could have yelled 'C'MON' like I did at that moment. 

And the bosses – wow.

Not all are created equal, but the best rival some of the series' all time greats.  

I loved Breath of the Wild and – while they suited the story – four Divine Beasts that all looked similar and featured four versions of the same boss left a little to be desired.

Tears of the Kingdom does not have the same problem. 

However, somewhat bizarrely, at the end of its first four dungeons, a variation of the exact same cutscene plays. It wears pretty thin over time and is an odd decision in a game that throws original idea after idea at players.

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME     

Link's ability to build and pilot vehicles has been central to selling Tears of the Kingdom. 

But the fact that it's getting a mention this late in my review says something.  

TikTok and YouTube will run wild with videos of players' craziest creations for months but, outside of hopping between sky islands and navigating gloom infested sections of the depths, they're rarely necessary. 

'Ultrahand' – one of Link's four new abilities – comes into its own within Shrines. 

The puzzles hidden within also make great use of the 'Recall' ability (which rewinds an object's momentum) and 'Ascend', which Link uses to swim to the top of surfaces above him. 

All are at their best when challenges demand they're used in unison; not to mention critical in exploring Hyrule.

My runaway favourite ability is 'Fuse'.

It starts simply enough. Combine a rock and a stick to create a club that can break a boulder.

You can have fun fusing two spears into a wildly impractical weapon twice the size of Link or to a shield to an explosive barrel that will devastate the enemy that hits it but keep Link safe.  

But by the end of the game, if you're not combining the right weapons and item, you won't pack enough of a punch to best the toughest enemies. 

Yes, the Master Sword still 'breaks'. Weapon durability is back. 

I actually liked being forced to gather and try new weapons in Breath of the Wild when older ones broke, and it remains a licence to experiment in Tears of the Kingdom. 

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is something special. 

It is better than Breath of the Wild with a bigger world, more to do and a grander story.

The freedom to create weapons, vehicles and solutions to puzzles is unlike anything I've ever experienced and the physics which underpin it all remain sensationally sound.

I would have paid $500 for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. More, in fact.  

Hyrule feels real and it's a world I don't want to leave. 

After dozens of hours completing the game's story, I can't wait to spend dozens more completing every side quest, collecting every item and finding (almost) every Korok. 

An inquiry into the trial of Bruce Lerhmann has heard claims that the majority of jurors were prepared to find the former Liberal staffer guilty of rape.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold today told the Board of Inquiry he believed 11 of 12 jurors would have convicted Lerhman before the ACT Supreme Court trial was ruled a mistrial in October over juror misconduct.

Drumgold said he believed the person unwilling to convict was the rogue juror who obtained information outside the evidence presented in court, which led to the jury being dismissed during deliberations.

READ MORE: Pilot accused of killing Russell Hill and Carol Clay could have case delayed

Lehrmann was charged with one count of sexual assault without consent relating to allegations brought forward by former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.

He pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence throughout.

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https://twitter.com/R_DAlessandro9/status/1656521337652002816

A second trial was aborted citing concerns about Higgins' mental health.

The independent inquiry is reviewing how police, prosecutors and a victim's support service handled the allegations.

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The trial of a former airline pilot accused of murdering Melbourne campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay could be delayed over funding issues and a fight by his lawyer to block major pieces of evidence.

Greg Lynn, 56, was set to face trial on two charges of murder in the Victorian Supreme Court in October this year.

But his barrister Dermot Dann KC on Thursday raised funding issues in the case and asked that the trial date be pushed to 2024.

READ MORE: Shocking CCTV emerges of violent attempted carjacking at Melbourne petrol station

He said the issue would take quite some time to resolve.

Dann also said the defence would be applying to exclude 15 items of evidence currently proposed by prosecutors against Lynn, including the record of interview "and basically everything that flows thereafter".

Lynn was interviewed by police over four days in November 2021.

Details of his full police interview have been suppressed, along with details from a covertly recorded conversation and statement made by him to police in July 2020.

The nine-and-a-half-hour interview would take nearly a week to be played in court, Dann said.

He also flagged potential interlocutory appeals against decisions relating to the exclusion of evidence, which would extend the time until a trial could occur.

Prosecutor John Dickie said he was concerned about the delay.

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"The prosecution is keen to have trial as it is at the moment, but if it's unavoidable it's unavoidable," he said.

Dann said that it was.

Lynn was charged in November 2021 with murdering the campers, whose missing persons case became one of Australia's most high-profile crime stories in March 2020.

It's alleged Lynn, 56, killed the couple on March 20 that year, while they all camped in the remote Wonnangatta area of Victoria's alpine region.

Lynn is in custody and will return to court by video link for a further directions hearing on June 22.

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Business director and entrepreneur Rob Campbell talks about Māori equity.

Year 12 and 13 students with partners outside school will have to go dateless to ball.

The plan comes after Ruapehu Alpine Lifts entered administration in October owing $45m.

Charges include four counts of doing intentional damage with reckless disregard.

When his housemate told him he had killed his girlfriend Ju 'Kelly' Zhang, a Melbourne man feared he would be next, a jury has heard.

The man, known as Chan, says he got a phone call from Joon Seong Tan on February 2, 2021 asking him to come to his girlfriend's home in Epping.

When he arrived, Tan told him he had argued with Zhang because she brought another man to her home.

READ MORE: Man 'randomly' assaulted during violent attempted carjacking at servo

"He said… he was so angry he lost his mind and killed his girlfriend," Chan told the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday where Tan is standing trial for murder.

Through a Cantonese interpreter, he said Tan told him he put Zhang's body in a laundry cabinet and asked him if he wanted to look.

He refused.

"I said I'm very scared and I'm not going to have a look at the body," he said.

"I was very scared that he may also kill me so I just sat there, listened quietly."

Tan allegedly said the body was getting stinky, and asked him to go in the street and look for a rubbish bin.

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He allegedly told Chan he wanted to put Zhang's body in the bin and get rid of it after her son had gone to sleep.

"I think now is a good chance for me to run away so I will pretend to say yes to his request, pretend to go out look for a bin," he said.

He left the house and ran for 10 to 15 minutes before catching a train into the city.

He spent time at the casino to avoid going home to the house he shared with Tan until he knew other roommates would be there.

During that time he had 50 or 60 missed calls from Tan, he said.

Chan later met Tan who he said told him if the police asked, to tell him he had gone to Epping to collect $300 that was owed to him.

He did say that in his first statement to police, but explained to jurors that he had been frightened because Tan was not in custody then.

"I was not able to tell the truth because I wanted to protect my own life," he said.

He said he told the whole truth in a second statement to police, after Tan's arrest.

READ MORE: Man accused of killing campers could have case delayed

It's alleged Tan murdered Zhang in her home sometime between 5pm and 6pm on February 2, 2021 after sharing dinner with her and her eight-year-old son.

He had allegedly previously told a friend he believed Zhang was cheating on him and if he found out that was the case he would "kill her, hug her and die together".

Tan is accused of putting Zhang's body in a bin and driving it to Heidelberg Heights, leaving it with others to be collected.

He allegedly later searched online for phrases including "how many years for killing a person in Australia" and "how is stinky garbage disposed in Australia".

Zhang's body was discovered at a Wollert landfill site in June 2021.

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