News and politics live updates: Chris Bowen refers retailers to watchdog over power bill price hikes

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers were on the defensive during question time as the Opposition seized on a rise in underlying inflation to accuse the government of failing to get living costs under control.

With new inflation figures showing core inflation rose from 3.4 per cent to 3.6 per cent in May, Oppositon MPS presssed Mr Albanese and Dr Chalmers over persisent price pressures.

Rather than directly addressing the increase in trimmed mean infaltion, the pair pointed to a modest fall in headline inflation, which eased from 4.2 per cent to 4.0 per cent.

“Nothing darkens their mood like another fall in inflation and that’s what we saw in the figures today, the second consecutive month, we saw inflation go down,” Dr Chalmers said.

“If the Shadow Treasurer wants to say that all the inflationary pressures in our economy are about government spending, then by his own admission, the extra $110bn in commitments that they have made over the next four years would mean higher inflation and higher interest rates.”

The Prime Minster also faced questions from the Opposition, including why Australians were “continuing to pay the price for Labor’s economic incompetence.”

“Today of all days, just one week from when a whole lot of those measures cut in, this is an appropriate time to answer a question about living standards because next week every Australian worker will get a tax cut. Every worker,” the PM said.

At some point, and probably pretty soon, Liberal leader Angus Taylor is going to have to explain if he agrees with Pauline Hanson’s wish for Australia to become a “monocultural” society.

For Mr Taylor to preserve his credibility as an alternative prime minister, he needs to articulate a sophisticated but straightforward answer to one of the most difficult questions facing all Western political leaders: how to manage large, non-discriminatory immigration programs.

On Tuesday, the question was put to him several times, including like this: “So, just to be clear, Mr Taylor, do you believe Australia should be a monoculture?”

“You explain to me what you mean by that,” he replied. “See, there’s all these vague words running around.”

As anyone who follows politics knows, the “vague words” were uttered last week by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who declared multiculturalism an “utterly flawed policy” and said, “Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella”.

Whether you agree or disagree, Senator Hanson wasn’t vague about her views on foreign cultures. Being direct and unafraid to offend some people has turned her into Australia’s most popular political leader.

Read the full opinion piece.

Shadow Foreign Minister Ted O’Brien has been challenged to declare if he supports the idea of multiculturalism a day after Liberal leader Angus Taylor repeatedly declined to endorse the policy.

Appearing at the National Press Club in Canberra the senior Liberal has described the recent debate about multiculturalism sparked by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as “silly”.

“I think the debate’s been a bit bizarre the last couple of days,” he said.

“What I can say is there might be some people who have listened to that debate over the last couple of days and said, yeah, we should be a monocultural country, and they might cheer that on until they find out they’re actually, they’re not in the mono.

“Who’s in the mono? I don’t know.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has blamed the war in the Middle East for a rise in underlying infaltion after new figures showed price pressures remain stubbornly high despite months of efforts to bring them under control.

Data released on Wednesday revealed headline inflation eased from 4.2 per cent to 4.0 per cent in the year to May. But the more significant trimmed mean measure of inflation rose to 3.6 per cent from 3.4 per cent, exceeding forecasts and dealing a blow to hopes that infaltion was continuing to trend lower.

When asked about the figures, Dr Chalmers argued global events were addding to existing infaltion pressures, singling out the Middle East conflict as a key driver.

“We already had an inflation challenge in our economy, but the war in the Middle East is making inflation higher than it would otherwise be,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“You can see that the initial impact on inflation came from the conflict when it came to fuel, but we see it broadening a bit today in other areas, including most especially dwelling construction costs,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Automotive fuel fell, 11.9 per cent in the month, but was still 7.7 per cent higher in through the year terms.

“So that extension of the fuel excise relief, in a tapered way, provides cost of living help, it recognises that there’s still some uncertainty in the Middle East, and that the costs and consequences of that war will play out for some time.”

Inflation moderated in May as the effects of the Federal Government’s fuel tax relief artificially took the heat out of price pressures - and reduced the prospect of another interest rate hike soon.

The consumer price index dropped to 4 per cent in May, down 4.2 per cent in April.

While it’s good news, headline inflation has now been above the Reserve Bank’s 2-3 per cent target for the tenth straight month, meaning another interest rate rise is still possible, even if it doesn’t occur at the RBA’s next meeting in August.

Underlying inflation, without the volatile price items, actually rose to 3.6 per cent, up from 3.4 per cent, as the 32-cent a litre reduction in fuel taxes artificially reduced headline but not core inflation.

The 30-day interbank futures market sees the RBA leaving rates on hold in August but raising them in November to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent.

The Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Nadine Williams, will temporarily head up the new Defence Delivery Agency as it begins operating from July.

Ms Williams, who led the review that led to the creation of the new agency, will act in the role until a permanent National Armaments Director is named by the Albanese government.

The Nightly has confirmed the head of the soon-to-be-replaced Capability and Sustainment Group inside Defence, Chris Deeble, has now resigned from the department.

The Albanese government is also searching for a new head of the Australian Submarine Agency which oversees the massive AUKUS endeavour.

Assistant Climate Change Minister Josh Wilson has apologised to the University of Western Australia football team following a recent physical altercation on the field which resulted in the Labor MP being suspended for five weeks.

The incident occurred in late April when Mr Wilson was playing for Fremantle City FC in an over-45s match against UWA in Western Australia’s local football league.

“I regret the incident. I don’t play sport for the argy-bargy. I play sport for the teamwork, camaraderie, fitness and all the rest of it,” the member for Fremantle told reporters.

“Everybody who plays football knows that when you get a red card, you get a week. If it’s a red card that involves a bit of contretemps or a bit of “afters”, as some people say, it’s another four weeks on top of that.”

“I’m disappointed. I apologised to the UWA guys who came back for a beer at the Fremantle City clubrooms after the game. I’m also sorry that I left my team in the lurch.”

Angus Taylor has moved to clarify his position on multiculturalism after refusing to explicitly endorse the concept earlier this week, arguing the Coalition supports a version based on shared Australian values rather than what he described as Labor’s approach.

Speaking on 2GB, the Opposition Leader said migrants should embrace Australia’s laws, freedoms and democratic system.

“Enforcing that, and making sure that people who come to this country, contribute to this country and commit to it, that’s not a monoculture. But it is requiring that people adopt Australian values, they are not welcome if they’re not prepared to do that. You can call that whatever you like but I call that common sense.”

He added, “It is a version of multiculturalism, what I’m talking about, but it’s not Labor’s version of multiculturalism where they simply say anyone can come with any culture and it’s all ok.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has issued a warning to energy retailers over passing on price cuts after a string of companies sent notices about rate hikes from July 1.

Mr Bowen has sent a formal letter to the consumer and energy watchdogs on Friday - the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Energy Regulator - to put them on notice.

“What I’ve asked the regulators to do is look at that and ensure it complies, particularly with the prohibited misconduct provisions in energy market laws, which require companies to pass on sustained reductions in energy costs through their bills,” Mr Bowen told a Canberra press conference on Wednesday.

While retailers did lower the usage charges under a push from the government and as underlying costs are falling, Mr Bowen insisted he wants assurances they haven’t simultaneously jacked up the daily supply charge.

“I have asked the regulators to look at those increases to make sure they comply, particularly with the prohibited misconduct provisions in energy market laws,” he said.

“As I said, those laws require energy companies to pass on sustained reductions in energy costs through bills, while allowing them some flexibility in how they do that.”

Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg has cast doubt on claims Australia’s housing market is undergoing a correction, arguing affordability pressures will remain until significantly more homes are built.

Responding to comments from Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, who pointed to falling auction clearance rates as evidence of a market correction, Mr Bragg said entry-level housing remained stubbornly expensive.

“It’s a long game housing and I’m not sure that she’s a forecaster,” Mr Bragg says.

“Ultimately, until we see a larger amount of housing supplied, I don’t think we’re going to see price stability or affordability.”