Australia news LIVE: RBA expected to announce fourth rate rise this year; Greens leader Larissa Waters steps down due to illness; Trump denies asking Xi about potential US arms sales

Treasurer Jim Chalmers continued to deflect responsibility for a likely rate rise onto the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which he said “has been a disaster for Australian families”.

Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 program last night, the treasurer said the Australian economy was performing remarkably well considering the environment of extraordinary global instability. He said inflation remained high because of the war in Iran.

“Right now, we’ve got a big inflation challenge in our economy. It’s made much worse by decisions taken on the other side of the world. From an economic point of view, this war in Iran has been an absolute disaster for Australian families because they have been asked to pay a hefty price for it.

“So, in that context, our job is to continue to manage the budget and the economy in a responsible way, to provide help with the cost of living in an affordable way.”

Chalmers also appeared to reject a suggestion by RBA governor Michele Bullock that unemployment would need to reach 5 per cent to see inflation brought down.

“I think we’ve seen in the past that we can get inflation down while maintaining very low unemployment.”

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of national news this Tuesday, September 29. Here’s what is making headlines today.

• The Reserve Bank is expected to hike rates for the fourth time this year as it prepares to hand down its decision this afternoon. The rise will bring Australia’s rates to a 15-year-high.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers continues to consistently blame high levels of inflation, made worse by the war in the Middle East, for creating the economic conditions that have led to the likely hike. “We’ve got a big inflation challenge in our economy. It’s made much worse by decisions taken on the other side of the world. From an economic point of view, this war in Iran has been an absolute disaster for Australian families because they have been asked to pay a hefty price for it,” he told ABC’s 7.30 last night.
• Greens leader Larissa Waters has resigned from the top job amid a battle with chronic kidney disease. “For some time now I’ve been quietly managing chronic kidney disease alongside doing the work I love. But recently it’s taken a downturn, and I need to be honest with myself about not being invincible,” she said in a statement. The Greens will hold a secret ballot of its MPs this week to elect a new leader.

• And US President Donald Trump said he had not discussed selling arms to China, contradicting a suggestion made by his ambassador to Beijing. “I never heard of that,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday (US time).