Brown Brothers Harriman forecast Australian consumer price inflation at 4.2% year over year for September, a private estimate ahead of Wednesday’s official release and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)’s next policy meeting.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) was scheduled to publish the September consumer price index (CPI) on Oct. 28. Its latest release showed annual CPI inflation at 4.0% in August, up from 3.5% in July, while trimmed-mean inflation remained at 3.6%.
Elias Haddad of Brown Brothers Harriman forecast monthly headline CPI at 4.2% year over year and the trimmed mean at 3.6%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia separately projected headline inflation to rise 1.3% from the previous quarter and reach 3.9% over the year through September. The forecasts cover different periods and are not direct comparisons.
The RBA’s cash rate target was 4.60%, effective Sept. 30, following a 25-basis-point increase on Sept. 29. The bank’s stated objectives pair an inflation target of 2% to 3% with conditions for sustained full employment. Its Monetary Policy Board is scheduled to meet Nov. 2–3. In its Sept. 29 decision, the RBA cited higher fuel costs feeding into other prices and domestic capacity constraints. EconoTimes previously examined the inflation test facing the RBA ahead of its November meeting.
Separately, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant told Senate estimates on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that online abuse and vilification were creating a dangerous climate for women in senior government roles. “Cancel culture and vilification have made the environment dangerously febrile for women in senior government roles,” she said. Inman Grant said attacks can include sexualized and violent threats intended to silence women and push them out of public life.
She described the complaints framework as reactive and narrow, saying it reaches only the gravest cases once damage is already done. Inman Grant urged lawmakers to establish a digital duty of care, create a private right of action and enact laws addressing online hate. She said eSafety began its Women in the Spotlight program in 2018 to help women in public life respond to online attacks. She also cited a 2020 agency alert about the heavier effects deepfakes could have on women and girls.
The ABS release on Oct. 28 will provide the next official inflation reading before the RBA’s Nov. 2–3 meeting.
