Low inflation says rate cut; Ley admits Libs 'smashed'; Xero's $4b bid

Low inflation says rate cut; Ley admits Libs 'smashed'; Xero's $4b bid

News in brief

New Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley wants to rebuild her party under the theme of “aspiration”, conceding the Libs were smashed at the May election. Ms Ley gave her first address to the National Press Club as party leader yesterday and says her mission is to rebuild the party so it offers a viable alternative at the next election, no matter how slender its prospects.

 

Accounting software group Xero is buying a Silicon Valley start-up called Melio Payments for $3.9 billion, betting its future on US expansion. Melio makes accounting and payments software for small and medium businesses and their bookkeepers.

 

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to make sure service stations are not ripping off drivers at the petrol bowser.

 

US President Donald Trump claims that the US’s bombing campaign last weekend obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, though other Pentagon observers say it is more likely to have delayed production by a few months.

 

A celebrity wedding party for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez in Venice this week has been moved to an isolated, less accessible part of the lagoon city on security concerns and to prevent the risk of protests.

Fear-o-meter

Both the headline and underlying inflation rates are now at the bottom end of the RBA’s two-to-three per cent target and financial markets are pricing in a rate cut on 8 July, after the next central bank meeting.

 

What is particularly encouraging about yesterday’s Bureau of Statistics data is that housing inflation is moderating. Housing accounts for 20 per cent of the inflation basket and has been one of the major drivers of inflation in the past few years.

 

The other piece of good news is that services inflation, which has been sticky in the past couple of years, is falling. For example, insurance inflation, at 3.9pc, is at its lowest rate in three years.

 

With headline inflation at its lowest rate in almost four years, cooling housing costs and services inflation moderating, alongside comments from RBA Governor Michele Bullock last month that’s she willing to lower rates again if inflation pressures remain subdued, then a cut is very likely next month.

Who's talking today?

On starting ReLove, a charity that works with corporate partners to reuse furniture for people in need. 

 

"We put a call out for furniture. It was the end of COVID time and lots of people were throwing out great quality furniture onto the council cleanups. So this inspired us to do a project around furniture. We were working with a women's shelter in Sydney and we were targeting to... get enough furniture and household items to rehome five women. We ended up just tapping into this great source of pre-loved and other furniture that is destined for landfill.

 

So we ended up over the first few months furnishing the homes of over 35 families and we became ReLove. So we are somewhat of an accidental charity. I'm an ex-banker and my co-founder is an architect by trade. So we're not from this space, but now we're doing it, we can't look away."

 

ReLove is appearing at next month's ReGen - Australia's Circular Resource Expo. Tickets are free. Register here.

It is Thursday the 26^th of June 2025. Inflation has fallen to the bottom of the Reserve Bank’s target band, increasing the chance of an interest rate cut when the central bank board meets in two weeks’ time. The monthly CPI indicator rose by just 2.1pc over the year to the end of May. The underlying, or trimmed mean, measure came in at 2.4pc – the lowest number since late 2021.

Forwarded from a friend? Sign up to our daily newsletter

Listen to today's episode 🎧 

Time's running out to win!

We’re working with Fonto, a research agency, to learn more about our community. We’re running a short survey to hear from you – how you’re feeling, what you love, what we could improve on, and more. It only takes a few minutes, and by taking part before 30 June, you’ll be in the running to win a $3,000 Luxury Escapes voucher. Click here to take part.

Greed-o-meter

It's been a big month for the Australian aviation industry, from Virgin Australia's IPO, through to Qantas axing its Jetstar Asia subsidiary. And both Qantas and Virgin climbed the rankings of the world's best airlines. Which got us thinking: what are the biggest airlines in the world, by fleet size? Australia doesn't make the top five (Qantas has about 340 aircraft across the three parts of its business).

	Airline	Country	Fleet size
1	American Airlines	USA	1,569
2	United Airlines	USA	1,467
3	Delta Air Lines	USA	1,293
4	Southwest Airlines	USA	828
5	Ryanair	Ireland	537

Source: flightradar24