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Tom Hickey's glorious locks were given glowing praise as Carlton star Adam Cerra had his one-match ban for a dangerous tackle overturned at the AFL tribunal.

But Luke Parker wasn't as lucky on Tuesday night with the Sydney co-captain failing to overturn his own one-match ban for a dangerous tackle.

Cerra was charged with rough conduct for his swivelling tackle on Hickey that resulted in the Swans ruckman being slammed back-first into the ground.

Hickey's head whipped back and struck the turf after being brought down, but the Swans big man escaped a concussion.

The nature of Hickey's long hair meant the action of his head hitting the ground was somewhat accentuated and it didn't escape the attention of Cerra's lawyer Peter O'Farrell.

"The hair on this particular player is an unhelpful distraction and we ask you not to be distracted by it," he said.

Lisa Hannon, acting for the AFL, noted the "very fine hair-do", but said there was other evidence that proved how dangerous the tackle was.

"I think if you look at that vision from many angles you won't be for one second distracted by his hair upon seeing the impact as his head hits the ground," she said.

Cerra argued he barely had a grip on Hickey and was off-balance as the Swans ruckman tried to barge through him.

"I was falling. I've tried to get a grip with my right arm coming around," Cerra said.

"This is a big guy coming through me.

"I didn't pin his arms. I didn't get a grip in the tackle at all. The footage showed I had two fingers around his left tricep and the other arm around his back.

"I did not lift Hickey. His momentum was ploughing through me. I'm not in a position of strength to lift up a guy of that size."

The tribunal panel, led by chairman Jeff Gleeson, found it wasn't a dangerous tackle.

"Cerra only has a light grip on Hickey's arms. They are not truly pinned," Gleeson said.

"Hickey could use one or both of his arms."

The result frees Cerra for Friday night's clash with Melbourne at the MCG.

Parker will miss Sydney's round-13 clash with the Saints after his one-match ban for a dangerous tackle on Carlton star Sam Walsh was upheld.

The midfielder argued he tried to lower his centre of gravity when laying a tackle on Walsh and showed a level of care for the Blues player.

"I don't think I went in with excessive force once we went to the ground," Parker told the tribunal.

"Once the tackle took place, at no time did I feel he was in a vulnerable position.

"I was dragging my feet across the ground while he had a pretty good stance."

But the tribunal panel disagreed.

Walsh was able to take his free kick and was not injured by the tackle, but the AFL's legal representative Sally Flynn argued the Carlton player was dazed.

Adelaide midfielder Rory Laird will also challenge his one-match suspension for a dangerous tackle on Tuesday night.

The cases involving Fremantle's Jaeger O'Meara (rough conduct for a dangerous tackle) and Lions veteran Dayne Zorko (making contact to the eye region) will be held on Wednesday night.

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Sydney co-captain Luke Parker has failed to overturn his one-match suspension at the tribunal for a dangerous tackle.

Parker will miss the Swans' round-13 clash with St Kilda after the tribunal upheld the match review officer's verdict during a contest with Carlton star Sam Walsh last Friday night.

The midfielder argued he tried to lower his centre of gravity when laying a tackle on Walsh and showed a level of care for the Blues player.

"I don't think I went in with excessive force once we went to the ground," Parker told the tribunal.

"Once the tackle took place, at no time did I feel he was in a vulnerable position.

"I was dragging my feet across the ground, while he had a pretty good stance."

But the tribunal panel disagreed, continuing a run of players unsuccessfully challenging dangerous tackle charges at the tribunal.

Walsh was able to take his free kick and was not injured by the tackle, but the AFL's legal representative Sally Flynn argued the Carlton player was dazed.

"There was potential to cause significant injury in the circumstances given his arm was pinned in the tackle," Flynn said.

Parker will be followed by Carlton's Adam Cerra, Fremantle's Jaeger O'Meara and Adelaide midfielder Rory Laird, who will all challenge their one-match suspensions.

Cerra and Laird will front the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday evening, while O'Meara and Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko face the music the following day.

Zorko will challenge his one-match ban for making contact to the eye region of Crows forward Luke Pedlar.

A total of 16 players have been suspended for dangerous tackles across the opening 10 rounds and that number will rise to 20 by Wednesday evening if Parker, Cerra, O'Meara and Laird are unsuccessful with their appeals.

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Treasury says excessive corporate profits are not fuelling inflation, except in the mining sector.

Weighing in on a recent debate, the department sided with the Reserve Bank of Australia and agreed profits were not significantly driving up consumer prices.

Treasury official Sarah Hunter said the department had analysed how corporate profits had changed as inflation accelerated.

"And that's where looking at mining versus the non-mining sector becomes important because the mining share has clearly lifted quite significantly," Dr Hunter told a Senate committee hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.

She said high commodity prices had translated into higher profits for these companies.

"But if you take that out and look at the non-mining sector, the movements are much less pronounced," Dr Hunter said.

But there was a lot of volatility and Treasury was "very cautious" about interpreting too much from the data from one quarter to the next.

Asked if mining sector profits played a role in household inflation, Dr Hunter said it did come through in some areas of the consumer price index basket, including petrol prices.

"But it's a much smaller share of the CPI basket than it is of the whole economy," she said.

Unions and think tank the Australia Institute maintain rising profit levels are contributing to high inflation rates and the influence of wage growth is overstated.

During the hearing, Treasury officials fielded back-to-back questions about inflation and its drivers.

Opposition senators were keen to get Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy's view on the inflationary impact of the May budget.

Dr Kennedy said the overall effect of the budget would be to put downward pressure on inflation.

"In my view, as outlined recently in some public remarks, monetary policy is the primary tool through which we will manage these types of cycles outside of crises," he said.

Economists have mixed views about the influence of the budget on consumer prices.

The Treasury secretary also flagged several concerning sources of inflation, including rents.

The top official at the department said the shift to smaller households, as adult children moved out of their parents' homes, was contributing to housing demand alongside the return of migration.

Dr Kennedy also said approvals for new dwellings had fallen, which would translate into fewer housing starts.

New building approval figures released on Tuesday reveal an 8.1 per cent fall in April, with the annual pace of approvals down 24.1 per cent.

The fall was much weaker than the forecast two per cent uptick, and Commonwealth Bank economist Belinda Allen said the future of housing supply was now at "critically low levels".

"The lack of new supply at a time when vacancy rates are low, household formation rates remain well below pre-pandemic levels and rapid population growth will mean rents, and home prices, will continue to face upward pressure," she said.

Approvals for new detached housing fell by 3.6 per cent in April, and multi-unit approvals fell by 16.9 per cent.

Treasury officials also shed some light into a review of the Productivity Commission that's under way.

The government has not called for a formal review but asked Treasury for ideas about how to modernise the institution.

© AAP 2023