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TRANSCRIPT
Australia has recorded an inflation rate of 3.8 per cent for the month of January.
That headline rate remains the same as it was in December while the trimmed mean rose from 3.3 to 3.4 per cent.
The trimmed mean inflation rate is the Reserve Bank's preferred measure of underlying inflation.
But both indicators are well above the central bank's target range for inflation of between 2 and 3 per cent.
Housing was the largest contributor to inflation, rising 6.8 per cent in January.
Electricity costs rose 32 per cent in the 12 months to January.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says inflation isn't likely to come down in the next few months.
"These are the sorts of numbers that we expect to see throughout the first half of the year while the government's energy rebates come off. We knew before these numbers that inflation would come in higher than we would like. There is an expectation that they will come in higher than we would like for longer than we would like."
Shadow Treasurer Tim WIlson says government's energy subsidies were deliberately designed to deceive Australians about inflation, and the true cost of energy.
"And once they've got through their election and their subsidy, the full force of inflation is now being felt by Australian households after an attempt to trick Australians that inflation is under control. Pyro Jim continues to pour debt petrol onto the inflation fire and Australians are paying higher prices as a consequence."
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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has again backed tougher laws targeting Australians linked to the I-S group, saying they should be treated as supporters of a death cult.
The Coalition has proposed legislation that would impose up to 10 years' jail for anyone who helps women and children with links to I-S return to Australia, a plan the government has criticised as unconstitutional.
Save the Children, which launched an unsuccessful legal bid against the government to repatriate the group, has expressed concern for the children's well-being.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stressed the government is not assisting their repatriation, while Mr Taylor maintains the cohort represents I-S group ideology.
"I'll start by saying, you can call them ISIS brides but these are ISIS supporters. These are people who have been part of a death cult. This is an organisation that rejects all of our most basic beliefs here in this country. That's what ISIS is. And we saw a product of ISIS ideology in North Bondi late last year."
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New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has signalled the possibility of legislative changes to increase penalties for gay hate crimes.
He's made the comments after an ABC investigation which reveals gay and bisexual teenagers are being hunted and bashed in I-S inspired attacks.
It has published videos and victims's accounts of IS sympathisers attacking the teenagers.
Chris Minns says they are shocking crimes and he's raised it with the Attorney-General's department.
"We will not allow a situation in New South Wales where people are being targeted because of their sexuality by somebody else. I want to make sure we're in a situation where police have got the resources, the DPP has the resources, that if someone is convicted of a crime like that they can throw the book at them and they are subject to a significant jail penalty."
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The federal government is under pressure to overturn the appointment of the incoming Northern Territory administrator who has a similar role to a state governor.
A broad coalition of Aboriginal leaders, women's organisations, and anti-discrimination advocates have penned an open letter to the prime minister calling for him to block the swearing-in of the NT administrator this Friday. [[Feb 27]]
Since his nomination, David Connolly has been criticised over past social media posts that have been labelled as racist, transphobic, and demeaning to women.
The posts include comments that mock Welcome to Country ceremonies, ridicule Indigenous languages, and joke about perpetrating domestic violence.
In January, Mr Connolly said in a statement he had no intention to cause offence, but offered no apology.
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President Donald Trump has given a triumphant assessment of his first year back in the White House.
Delivering the State of the Union address, he said this is the golden age of America and the nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.
"More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. Think about that — any time in the history of our country, more working today, and 100 per cent of all jobs created under my administration have been in the private sector."
Opinion polls in the U-S show many distrust how Donald Trump has managed the government in his first year back in office.
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In tennis,
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley [[Tie-lee]] is leaving Tennis Australia to become the CEO of the United States Tennis Association.
Tiley has run the Australian Open since 2006.
He says he will remain with Tennis Australia until his replacement has been recruited.
"The organisation, Tennis Australia, is in the best shape its ever been. There's two marks of really good leadership - one is that you leave a palce in better shape than it was when you started and then when you go on for several years, it continues to grow and excel and I'm aboslutely convinced that will be the case."
