Key events
Elias Visontay
Australia’s roads are becoming more deadly, with the latest 12-month figures the worst since 2012.
There were 1,310 deaths on Australian roads in the year up to 30 April, an 11.2% increase, and the highest number of deaths recorded in a 12 month period since the same number of fatalities were recorded in the year ending 30 November 2012, according to the data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
The figures include a 31.2% surge in fatalities in New South Wales and a 35.3% increase in the Northern Territory – a jurisdiction which received funding injections for road safety programs more generous than others in Tuesday’s budget. Fatalities also increased by 12.4% in Victoria, 5.7% in Queensland, and 9.8% in South Australia.
Road deaths have been trending upwards in recent years, despite a long term campaign to bring down fatalities, with the peak motoring body, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), pleading for an agreement from states and territories and funding to collate road accident data so experts can better understand what is causing the uptick in danger. In its recent budget, the Federal government unveiled funding and plans to share the road data.
Michael Bradley, AAA managing director, called on state and territory leaders to comply with the government’s road trauma data sharing initiative. Bradley said:
“These figures tragically show Australia’s current approach to road trauma management is failing and that we need a data-driven response to a problem killing more than 100 people every month.”
Jim Chalmers tells Guardian Australia about his budget balancing act
As mentioned at the top, Jim Chalmers has sat down with our political editor, Karen Middleton, to explain the thinking behind this week’s federal budget.
He also revealed that the party is going to splash $45m on advertising to promote its Future Made policy.
Chalmers rejected the suggestion that taxpayers should not have to pay for the government to explain its vision to them:
Some of these changes that we’re contemplating are big, meaty changes. We’re talking about, over time, transforming our energy base, transforming our industrial base, our human capital base, and so it’s not, I think, unreasonable or unusual to provision in a responsible way to communicate that to people.
Karen’s full story is here:
And you can listen to what he had to say in our Australian Politics Podcast here:
Rise in rental availability gives hope to tenants
Australian renters looking to move house had slightly more choice in April but, with competition for vacant homes still fierce, prices will probably continue to rise, Australian Associated Press reports.
Vacancy rates have been holding at low levels in most parts of the country, leaving more renters scrambling to secure the few available properties and pushing market rents higher.
And while a minor rise in the national vacancy rate was recorded in April, according to real estate data firm PropTrack, conditions for renters remain tough, with just 1.21% of properties sitting vacant during the month.
Even with the 0.09 percentage point lift in April, PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said vacancy rates were still less than half the level considered healthy:
With vacant properties scarce, homes that do come up for rent are continuing to see high levels of competition, which is driving rent prices higher.
Canberra and Perth had the most substantial increases to vacancy rates, with the latter recording its first increase in vacant rentals since July 2022.
Tenants looking for a new place have endured a 9.1% rise in advertised rents in the 12 months to March, based on the property data firm’s figures, and Reserve Bank of Australia analysis suggests there’s more pain to come.
The dynamics in the housing market keeping rents and property prices high are taking time to unwind, the central bank’s chief economist, Sarah Hunter, said in a speech on Thursday.
New home building has been sluggish, fewer people are living together and the population has been growing fast since borders reopened, keeping prices elevated.
And although there were signs developers were responding to strong demand for housing by building more homes, Hunter said this was taking time and many projects were still not viable.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome. It’s been a busy old week but there’s still a lot of news to come. I’m Martin Farrer and I will guide you through the best of the breaking news before Rafqa Touma comes along shortly.
Jim Chalmers in particular has had a busy week and sat down with our political editor, Karen Middleton, to explain the thinking behind his cost-of-living budget. He also reveals a $45m advertising blitz to spruik the government’s plans to fund and underwrite clean-energy technology and innovation under the banner Future Made in Australia. More coming up. But his budget was attacked last night by opposition leader Peter Dutton, who said in his official reply that he would said cut permanent migration by a quarter.
After framing the budget in terms of helping people with the cost-of-living crisis, Chalmers and the rest of the government will be pleased to note that renters had slightly more choice last month. A survey out this morning shows that there was a minor rise in the national vacancy rate, according to real estate data firm PropTrack. But it’s still a tough market with just 1.21% of properties sitting vacant during the month. There might also be a glimmer of light for borrowers after the prospect of a cut in US interest rates sent the Dow Jones industrial average powering past 40,000 points. Three UK banks cut mortgage rates as well. That could mean the RBA could follow suit sooner rather than later.
Tens of thousands of women fleeing family violence are unable to get legal assistance each year, forcing them to represent themselves in court, incur huge debts to pay legal fees, agree to unfair parenting and child support arrangements, or stay in abusive relationships. Alleged perpetrators are using the legal system to drag out proceedings, forcing women to either run up huge costs of up to $200,000 or endure abuse. “He just wants to keep fighting and fighting,” one woman tells our reporter Kate Lyons. “It really came very close to completely destroying my life.”
