Better-than-expected inflation figures could spare rate-hike weary borrowers from another increase next month, but economists have warned there will likely be more pain around the corner. 

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released this morning showed headline inflation cooled from 4.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent in the 12 months to April.

The trimmed mean, which is the primary measure of underlying inflation used by the Reserve Bank, rose slightly to 3.4 per cent in the 12 months to April, up from 3.3 per cent in the 12 months to March.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the news but acknowledged that inflation is "still too high". 

"We've had an inflation challenge in our economy, which is made worse by the war in the Middle East and what we see in these numbers is some encouraging numbers," he said.

The lower headline figure was the result of softening fuel prices, which dropped last month due to the temporary halving of the fuel excise, more supply secured and free transportation in some states.

The data came in slightly lower than market expectations, which had predicted inflation to come in around 4.4 per cent. 

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AMP economist My Bui said today's inflation figures mean the Reserve Bank can comfortably hold rates in June, but will do little to change the bank's forecast of trimmed mean inflation rising to 3.8 per cent later this year.

"We believe that the Reserve Bank will hike once more this year (likely in August), following confirmation of further rises in trimmed mean figures as well as solid GDP data for the first quarter," she said. 

eToro lead analyst Josh Gilbert said the RBA still has a battle with inflation and has little breathing room as inflation is still well above the 2-3 per cent target.

"The RBA meets again in June and is widely expected to hold at 4.35 per cent. Today's print won't change that, but it does reinforce why we've seen three rate hikes and why another is still pencilled in this year," he said.

"With trimmed inflation edging higher and the cost of the current conflict feeding deeper into supply chains, it's an uncomfortable position for the RBA to be in, and shows the job is not done."

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Inflation in Australia is higher than in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, European Union and Japan.

This is despite Australia having the highest cash rate and three consecutive hikes this year.

Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said inflation has remained "stickier than a toffee apple".

"In the last 12 months, the only moves it's made were in the wrong direction," she said.

"If the (RBA) board does pause in June, it won't signal the end of the hikes.

"If the current cash rate setting doesn't get inflation moving back in the right direction, the RBA will have no option but to ratchet up the pressure even further."

All big four banks are forecasting the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates at its next meeting in June.

ANZ and Commonwealth Bank are forecasting no more increases for the rest of the year, while Westpac has predicted two more hikes and NAB one more.

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The ABC's news director, Justin Stevens, has resigned after almost 20 years with the national broadcaster.

Stevens, a former executive producer of 7.30 who was appointed as director of news, analysis and investigations in 2022, confirmed he will leave the organisation due to professional and personal reasons.

In a statement, the veteran journalist described his tenure as "incredibly tough but immensely rewarding".

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"Having said that, for reasons both professional and personal, now is the right time for me to move on and for someone else to take over the helm of the best news team in the country," Stevens said.

Stevens has weathered several major leadership changes during his time in the top job, including two managing directors and two chairs.

His time at the helm has also been mired by several controversies.

In September 2025, the ABC was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine to journalist Antoinette Lattouf for her unlawful termination after she was sacked over a Gaza post. Stevens was not involved in the decision to terminate Lattouf.

The ABC also went dark for 24 hours in March after staff walked off the job in a historic national strike.

Stevens joined the ABC in 2006 and worked for its flagship current affairs program, 7.30, for eight years.

He also served as a Four Corners producer before being appointed news director.

It is understood Stevens will leave the ABC entirely.

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ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks thanked Stevens for his contribution and said he had achieved outstanding results in the role.

"Justin has achieved this through a period of significant change and challenges across the media landscape, both internationally and in Australia," Marks said in a statement.

"‌I am grateful to have seen the strength of Justin's editorial instincts and to have observed his commitment to the ABC and audiences.

"I wish him every success in the future."

ABC head of regional, rural and metro news Donna Field will serve as acting news director until a replacement is appointed.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis didn’t comment on whether Peters’ remarks were appropriate.

Former Shortland Street star Mary Los’e became the Pacific Business Trust CEO in 2023.

JobSeeker will be overhauled under the biggest proposed overhaul of welfare payments in a generation. 

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth today announced a new assessment process and three-tiered system, replacing the current one-size-fits-all approach, so jobseekers receive help that suits their situation.

The tiers include a digital service for people ready to work, provider-led support for people who need help to build skills and confidence and intensive support for people facing complex barriers.

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Rishworth told the National Press Club the current $2 billion system is "ill-equipped" to address the needs of the one million people it supports.

"A one-size-fits-all approach across all elements of Workforce Australia is letting too many participants fall through the cracks and creating inefficiencies in the system," she said.

Under the $312 million package, the government will also introduce new mutual obligations that connect to each person's goals and a planning tool to help people work towards them.

Rishworth has launched a discussion paper and formed an advisory group to hear feedback on the design of the changes.

"This is major, complex reform, but it will be worth it to realise the benefit of employment services system, to make sure it's functioning for the jobseekers who need it," she said.

Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne said the changes were not a shake-up but a "screw-up".

"One million people have been waiting for years for Labor to reform John Howard's employment services system so that it actually helps them find work and doesn't coerce and punish them," she said.

"But what they've discovered today is that Labor is continuing to prop up a system which punches down on welfare recipients."

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The employment services system has faced years of criticism for its effectiveness, with a 2023 white paper finding that it cannot adequately respond to diverse needs and people were falling through the cracks.

In her address, Rishworth said jobseekers need high-quality providers as she pointed out problems in the current system.

She said providers are not considering whether a person is being placed in a suitable role, leading to about one in six people re-entering the system within a year and employers being too frustrated to engage with the system.

Providers are also failing to help people with complex needs, with 20 per cent of the caseload being parked for more than five years.

"If you're lucky enough to be healthy, with a recent work history and a post-secondary qualification, you are closer to the labour market," she said.

"Therefore, a provider is more likely to be able to help you find a suitable job, because the way providers are paid means that they are incentivised to focus their efforts on those who fit this narrow profile rather than supporting everyone on their caseload."

Dr Michael Swanson said it will aim to steady ambition and restore confidence.

Jamie Mannion imported, sold and supplied millions of dollars worth of drugs.

A man who killed two Asian migrant sex workers will spend more time behind bars after prosecutors successfully appealed his sentence.

Chinese student Xiaozheng Lin, 25, was originally jailed for 14 years for the manslaughter of Yuqi Luo, 31, and Hyun Sook Jeon, 51.

But the Victorian Court of Appeal today re-sentenced him to 18 years behind bars after finding the original term was "manifestly inadequate".

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Luo and Jeon were both sex workers who operated out of their apartments in Melbourne.

Lin had sex with Luo at her La Trobe Street apartment in the early hours of December 27, 2022, before asking for more services.

When she told him it would cost another $100, Lin became enraged and pushed Luo onto the bed, before strangling her until she was gasping for air.

He left her for dead, stealing $7000 in cash along with other personal belongings, including her mobile phone, tablet and handbags.

Lin told his friend he had sex with Luo, robbed and assaulted her after she had bitten his hand, and claimed she was alive when he left.

Later on December 27, between 10.15pm and 10.45pm, Lin visited Jeon at her Docklands apartment, where they had sex before he inflicted another deadly assault.

Lin left at about 12.37am, stealing her bank cards, laptop, phone, car and building keys, and then catching an Uber home.

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It is unclear how Jeon died because her body was too decomposed to determine a cause of death at the time of autopsy.

Lin was facing a murder trial but cut a deal with prosecutors, instead pleading guilty to two counts of manslaughter in October 2024.

He was sentenced the following month to a maximum of 14 years behind bars with a non-parole period of nine years.

Prosecutors appealed the sentence in June 2025, arguing it was manifestly inadequate given the seriousness of the offending and Lin's high moral culpability.

And appeal justices Lesley Taylor, Peter Kidd and Jane Dixon agreed, today finding the offending called for a stern punishment.

"The objective gravity and moral culpability in respect of each offence was high, and the stark feature of this case was the loss of life by, not just one, but two defenceless women," the written reasons stated.

"In our view, each of the individual sentences was outside the range reasonably open to the sentencing judge in all the circumstances."

The justices also found the non-parole period was manifestly too low, given Lin was not found to have good prospects of rehabilitation. They increased it to 14 years.

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An Australian businessman who was jailed for insider trading is now among the country's richest people after cashing in on the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Oliver Curtis walked out of a NSW prison on June 23, 2017 after serving 12 months of a two-year sentence for conspiring to commit 45 illicit trades, which banked him and former pal John Hartman $1.43 million.

Less than 10 years after his release, Curtis, 41, has made his debut on the Australian Financial Review (AFR) rich list with an estimated personal fortune of $1.25 billion.

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Curtis has earned this impressive net worth through Singapore-based AI infrastructure start-up Firmus, which is on track for a nearly $7 billlion valuation after computer chip giant Nvidia doubled its investment last month.

The former investment banker is now the 125th-richest person in Australia, according to the AFR.

Curtis is in good company as a rich list debutant.

There are 15 other first-time entries, including the founders of chicken chain El Jannah and clothing brand White Fox.

His path to the rich list is one that is as well-documented as it is tumultuous.

Curtis, the husband of well-known public relations boss Roxy Jacenko, began Firmus alongside his cousin Tim Rosenfield in 2019.

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Just nine years ago, Curtis was a newly-released parolee after a year-long stint at Cooma Correctional Centre.

He served the minimum sentence for insider trading, which took place between May 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, resulting in a net profit of $1,432,228.85.

At the time, Justice Lucy McCallum said Curtis "shows no sign of progression beyond the self-interested pursuit of material wealth which prompted his offending".

The money was spent on luxury cars, a Bondi apartment and trips overseas.

His co-conspirator Hartman later became the Crown's star witness and served a 15-month sentence at Silverwater jail.

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Curtis was back in business plotting his billionaire redemption arc within months of walking free and reuniting with Jacenko and his children.

Before Firmus, he co-founded cryptocurrency medical start-up e-Nome with his father Nick Curtis.

The company fizzled out quickly and Curtis then pivoted to AI, launching Firmus two years later in 2019.

Despite his criminal record, Curtis was given the green-light to run Firmus as a publicly-listed company in March this year.

Firmus is expected to float on the ASX by September.

Republicans are fretting that a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump may cost them in their most important state.

Ken Paxton has claimed the nomination as the Republican Senate candidate in Texas, beating long-time incumbent John Cornyn.

His comfortable win this morning over Cornyn comes after Trump threw his support behind Paxton last week after a bitter and expensive primary election.

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But Paxton has been so scandal-prone that it could give Democrats an opening in the conservative state.

As Texas attorney-general, his own staff reported him to the FBI with bribery and corruption accusations.

Paxton then fired the whistleblowers.

He was impeached by the state House of Representatives but kept his job after a vote to remove him failed by a single vote in the Texas Senate.

In 2015, he was arrested while attorney-general and charged with security fraud, paying a $A400,000 fine and doing 200 hours of community service in a deal with prosecutors.

He was also caught on CCTV pocketing another lawyer's $A1400 pen when it had been left behind at a metal detector.

"To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder," Republican senator Thom Tillis said.

"This guy is an empty suit and will do us no service by being in the US Congress."

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His wife Angela filed for divorce last year on "biblical grounds", alleging adultery.

Mrs Paxton, herself a state senator, did not make an endorsement in the election.

Despite his misdeeds, Paxton publicly professes his Christian faith and was a co-founder of a Dallas megachurch in the 1990s.

His deeply conservative views have made him a darling in Texas Republican politics.

He has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, transgender rights and COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2022, he said he would be in favour of recriminalising sex between men.

Making Republicans nervous in Texas is the surprising popularity of Democratic candidate James Talarico.

Talarico is a state representative and former teacher who also speaks of his own Christian faith. He has a masters of divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

In the first three months of the year, he raised $A37 million for his campaign, more than ten times Paxton did.

But in the past 20 years, Texas has been the prize Democrats can't quite win.

But Trump is so on the nose with voters that it may cost Republicans their crown jewel.

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Voters have turned hard against Trump, with the most pronounced swing among Hispanic Americans. In Texas, 40 per cent of the population is Hispanic.

Trump's endorsement of Paxton came after a battle with Cornyn to win the president's approval.

Both candidates campaigned on their devotion and loyalty to Trump, but Paxton won out in the end.

Texas is the biggest Republican-leaning state in the United States. If Democrats can make the state competitive, it will transform the way presidential elections are run.

The midterm election will take place in November.

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