As it happened: RBA holds interest rates for second consecutive month; Morrison lashes out at robo-debt ‘political lynching’

Information technology and materials companies pushed the Australian sharemarket higher on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged for the second month in a row.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 40.3 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7450.7 at the close after the interest rate decision lifted all sectors into the green.

Information technology companies (up 1.1 per cent), which get a boost to their valuations when interest rates are lower, rose after the Reserve Bank’s decision with WiseTech (up 0.9 per cent), Xero (up 1.4 per cent) and data centre operator NEXTDC (up 2.4 per cent) enjoying a lift.

Industrials (up 0.05 per cent) was the weakest sector on the local bourse with Reece (down 1.5 per cent), Qantas (down 0.6 per cent) and Atlas Arteria (down 1.1 per cent) among the biggest large-cap decliners.

Read the full wrap from Millie Muroi here.

In case you missed it, there was a bit of back-and-forth between former prime minister Scott Morrison and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten in question time this afternoon.

In response to a question from a fellow Labor MP, Shorten described Morrison as a “bottomless well of self-pity” with “not a drop of mercy for all the real victims of Robo-debt”.

Morrison, sitting on the backbench, calls out at the end of Shorten’s speech: “That’s very personal, Bill.”

And on ABC Radio Melbourne a short time ago, presenter Raf Epstein asked Shorten whether the Robo-debt Royal Commission, and his public criticisms of Morrison, were personal, “because of your electoral fortunes as opposition leader?”

His response: “It is hugely personal, but not because of not winning the 2019 election. It’s hugely personal because one of the victims in Robo-debt is Australian citizens’ trust in government. A government shouldn’t single out and target the poor and somehow treat them as lesser.”

A push to get more tax revenue from oil and gas giants operating in Australian waters has been rejected by the Albanese government.

Changes to the decades-old Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT), announced as part of the federal budget, already intend to claw back an extra $2.4 billion over the next four years.

But a group of crossbenchers, whose votes could be vital, are calling for a greater share of revenue for Australians from the massive fields.

Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program the proposal from the group – including senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie – would add a further $2.6 billion to treasury coffers over the next four years.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers rejected the proposal and said the government would seek the support of the Coalition to legislate the proposal it put forward in the May budget.

“The Coalition has the opportunity to do the right thing here,” he said. “We put a lot of work into this, treasury spent some years coming to this advice ... and the outcome of that should be the passage of this legislation.”

With AAP.

Still riding high from the Matildas’ incredible victory over Canada last night? Or just hopping on the bandwagon for the knockout stages? Either way, get to know the players at Tony Gustavsson’s disposal with this excellent squad profile Vince Rugari has assembled.

The Matildas will play the second-placed team in Group B, with China taking on England and Haiti playing Denmark tonight at 9pm to decide who will come up against the host team.

In case you missed it, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has given Australia a one-year reprieve from an in danger rating for the reef, but says it will force the government to come back next year and demonstrate what else it is doing to protect the reef.

And there are three good reasons why UNESCO has singled out Australia.

Of the 30 reefs listed as World Heritage sites, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced the worst damage from repeated coral bleaching, driven by climate change.

Secondly, two other developed countries have World Heritage-listed coral reefs – France and the US – but Australia’s climate target is significantly weaker.

The third reason: the Paris Agreement’s requirement for developed nation’s to take the lead on climate action. UNESCO is holding Australia to the highest standards, in an obvious effort to push one of the world’s wealthiest nations to raise its climate targets to the standards required by the Paris Agreement.

You can read the full analysis from Mike Foley here.

Tougher rules around the use of engineered stone will be imposed in South Australia amid an ongoing national inquiry into a potential ban on the products.

The changes come as the federal government also allocated $3 million on Tuesday to train health professionals to better support workers affected by silicosis and other dust diseases.

Under SA’s new regulations, it will be an offence to direct or allow a worker to process engineered stone without specific control measures in place to minimise silica dust inhalation.

All workers involved in cutting, grinding, trimming, sanding, or drilling engineered stone products must be provided with respiratory protective equipment, and use a dust control system such as a water suppressant or exhaust ventilation.

An estimated 600,000 workers have been exposed to silica dust generated through mining, construction, building, and manufacturing, with a Curtin University study estimated 10,000 would develop lung cancer from dust exposure.

Last year, an investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes found dangerous workplace practices and loose regulations were putting workers’ lives at risk.

AAP.

The Bureau of Meteorology has kept its El Nino rating on “alert” level, despite record-breaking heatwaves torching long-standing temperature records around the world.

However, the Bureau released its latest update on Tuesday afternoon and said it expects to announce within coming weeks that an El Nino weather event has officially kicked off.

El Nino weather systems typically bring hotter, drier conditions to the eastern seaboard, raising the risk of drought and bushfires.

The weather system doesn’t take full effect until ocean and atmospheric conditions occur simultaneously, and the Bureau said on Tuesday afternoon that while the hot ocean temperatures associated with El Nino are in place, trade winds had not shifted enough to declare an El Nino.

While sea surface temperatures are soaring and hot water is pooling in the eastern Pacific, along the west coast of South America, trade winds are still blowing from the east in the Pacific at the equator and bringing hot moist air to eastern Australia, not the typical drier conditions associated with an El Nino event.

The Bureau will issue its next update on August 15.