Received

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 31 May 2023; Hits: 72

The Hawthorn racism saga is now headed to the Australian Human Rights Commission and probably the courts as at least four separate complainants consider their options.

The Hawks are also in negotiations with the league, which has signalled it could punish the club over how they initially handled the bombshell claims against Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt.

Lawyers for "Amy", one of the complainants, made it clear what they thought of Tuesday night's announcement that the AFL had wound up the independent inquiry into the racism claims, with no adverse findings made.

"The more accurate statement would be that no findings have been made at all," Marque Lawyers tweeted.

Fagan also issued a strongly worded statement that made it clear the saga still has a long way to run, saying he would welcome the chance for his conduct to be tested in a public court.

Apart from the seriousness of the claims - including an Indigenous former Hawthorn player was told to encourage his then-partner to have an abortion - there are at least three separate legal firms representing various complainants.

The four complainants who had involvement with the now-closed inquiry are represented by Leon Zwier at legal firm Arnold Bloch Liebler. He is understood to be taking their grievances to the Australian Human Rights Commission, now that the inquiry is finished.

Marque represents "Amy", who made it clear through them last November she would have no involvement with the inquiry. She is the woman who claims her then-partner was told to encourage her to end her pregnancy.

Judy Courtin represents "Zac" and "Jacqui". Courtin issued a statement strongly rebutting Burt's comments when the former Hawthorn welfare manager gave his version of events on Saturday in a media interview.

All the complainants remain anonymous.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan apologised at Tuesday night's announcement and conceded ending the stalled inquiry was an "imperfect solution."

He also acknowledged the massive toll the saga had taken on everyone involved.

Amy, Zac and Jacqui's statements through their lawyers have laid bare the rawness of their emotions over the claims.

Fagan's statement pulled no punches as the current Brisbane coach labelled the process a farce, while Alastair Clarkson remains on indefinite leave from coaching North Melbourne because of the toll it has taken on him.

Burt, who now works at a Melbourne school, also spoke of his anger in the interview.

Clarkson, the four-time Hawthorn premiership coach, had Fagan as one of his key deputies at the club when the alleged mistreatment happened between 2010-16.

All three men strenuously deny the allegations against them.

Meanwhile, current Hawks president Andy Gowers and his predecessor Jeff Kennett have urged the AFL not to take any action against the club over how it handled the initial Binmada report.

McLachlan said the way Hawthorn handled the process when initial allegations were made put many parties involved in a "hugely vulnerable situation".

Jeff Kennett questioned "on what basis" the Hawks could be charged by the AFL and said on Wednesday he had written to the AFL Commission, asking them to finalise the process quickly.

Gowers also said there are "a number of discussions" ongoing with the league.

After eight months of the inquiry making minimal progress, events moved quickly on Tuesday and the AFL called a snap media conference that evening to announce the end of the investigation.

The Hawks saga started last year after former Indigenous star Cyril Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli publicly claimed they were treated poorly during their time at the club.

That prompted a Hawthorn review of current and former Indigenous players, which led to the bombshell racism claims being leaked to the media last September.

Also on Wednesday, the AFL Players Association issued a statement saying the AFL's investigation process was flawed because it was "not truly independent" of the league.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 31 May 2023; Hits: 70

Another interest rate hike is starting to look more probable as simmering inflation risks playing on the Reserve Bank governor's mind and consumer prices show few signs of losing steam.

The monthly consumer price index came in at 6.8 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent in the year to March.

There were a few seasonal factors in play pushing up the monthly CPI, which is still a fairly new and volatile series, including the sudden fall in fuel prices this time last year because of the halving of the fuel excise tax.

But the uptick in underlying inflation from 6.5 per cent in May to 6.7 per cent suggests price pressures are still present across the economy.

EY chief economist Cherelle Murphy said inflation was clearly still running too fast, even when accounting for the volatility of the monthly gauge.

"This result will be disappointing for the Reserve Bank and strengthens the case for tighter monetary policy," she said in a note.

The central bank's board will meet next Tuesday for the June cash rate decision.

The inflation data came hot on the heels of an appearance from RBA governor Philip Lowe at a parliamentary committee where he said the risks for inflation were slanted up rather than down.

"Given what we're seeing internationally, I think the risks on inflation are more to the upside and we need to be attentive to this," he told senators on Wednesday.

The governor also fleshed out his thinking behind several of these inflation risks, with sluggish productivity growth among those pressing concerns.

He said wages were not growing too fast to be a problem but unless productivity growth picked up, unit labour costs would end up dangerously high.

In the past three years, there had been no increase in the average output produced per hour worked.

"It's a problem for the country and it's a problem for the inflation outlook as well," he warned.

Rents are also threatening the inflation outlook as the biggest component of the consumer price index.

Dr Lowe said there were two major factors driving rents to eye-watering levels - that people opted for more space during the pandemic and the population was booming as borders reopened.

He said it would take time for new supply to come online to meet the higher demand but high prices would eventually cause people to "economise on housing".

"Kids don't move out of home because the rent is too expensive or you decide to get a flatmate, that's the price mechanism at work."

The governor also took the opportunity to nix concerns the May budget would be inflationary and trigger more interest rates.

He said the budget was broadly neutral and working to reduce inflation in the next financial year.

"The electricity price intervention and saving most of the upgrades of the revenue, I think they're helpful."

New construction data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics was also released on Wednesday and pointed to strength in engineering construction.

The category was largely responsible for the higher-than-expected 1.8 per cent quarterly lift in construction work done, up from a one per cent gain in the December quarter.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 31 May 2023; Hits: 85

RBA governor Philip Lowe has outlined a number of risks to the central bank's task of returning inflation to target as the monthly consumer price index comes in at a hotter-than-expected 6.8 per cent.

Headline inflation lifted from 6.3 per cent in the year to March to 6.8 per cent in the 12 months through to April.

The head of the Reserve Bank says rents will start to fall when more people form bigger households by bringing in a flatmate or staying at home with their parents.

Dr Lowe said there were two major factors driving prices to eye-watering levels - that people opted for more space during the pandemic, and that the population was booming as borders reopened.

It would take time for new supply to come online to meet the higher demand but that high prices would eventually cause people to "economise on housing", he added.

"Kids don't move out of home because the rent is too expensive or you decide to get a flatmate, that's the price mechanism at work," he told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.

"We need more people, on average, to live in each dwelling.

"And prices do that"

Dr Lowe said rents were a "very significant issue" as the single largest component of the consumer price index.

"They're very important and we're expecting growth in rents and, as measured in the CPI, it'd be kind of around close to 10 per cent."

Inflation expectations, which refers to the rate at which people expect prices to rise in the future, also pose a risk to the central bank's task of returning inflation to target.

The governor said this was one reason the central bank board decided to hike interest rates in May after pausing for one month in April.

"There are a whole bunch of reasons we did that, but one of them was to reinforce the idea in the community's mind that we're serious about this, that we will do what's necessary to get inflation to come down," he said.

He was hopeful inflation would continue to come down over the coming quarter and months

"We really want people to understand that we're serious about this, that we'll do what's necessary, and not to question our commitment to get inflation back down, as painful as that is, we've got work to do there," he said.

Weak productivity growth is also weighing on the governor's mind.

He explained that without productivity growth, unit labour costs are getting too high.

"Over the last three years, there has been no increase in the average output produced per hour worked in Australia - no increase for three years," Dr Lowe said.

"It's a problem for the country and it's a problem for the inflation outlook as well."

The governor said unit labour costs were growing at the rate of around 3.5 to four per cent and that made it hard to bring inflation back to around 2.5 per cent.

"And the best solution to this is a lift in productivity growth."

Dr Lowe said the reasons for weak productivity growth were complex and that the pandemic had a lot to do with it.

"Businesses were in survival mode rather than growth mode and investments slowed down and there were disruptions," he said.

"That's now behind us. So perhaps we'll now see productivity growth pick up."

The central bank started lifting interest rates last year to tackle high inflation.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 31 May 2023; Hits: 71

The head of the Reserve Bank says rents will start to fall when more people form bigger households by bringing in a flatmate or staying at home with their parents.

Philip Lowe said there were two major factors driving rents to eye-watering levels - that people opted for more space during the pandemic, and that the population was booming as borders reopened.

Dr Lowe said it would take time for new supply to come online but that high prices would eventually cause people to "economise on housing".