The former Coalition is mounting perhaps the weakest fight against Labor in recent memory, with both Sussan Ley and David Littleproud embroiled in leadership tussles.
Even so, the Albanese government received a reminder today that the politics of the economy can still bite.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics unveiled a surprise 0.9% spike in quarterly trimmed mean inflation, higher than economists had anticipated and appearing to all but guarantee the Reserve Bank will lift rates next week. The figures wiped out early morning gains on the ASX.
As we outlined in Forward Guidance, this is exactly the kind of result economists said would likely trigger a rate rise. Westpac, ANZ and Bank of Queensland are now tipping an increase next week.
