Australia news live: police confirm man crushed to death at Sydney school; Barilaro inquiry continues; 82 Covid deaths | Australia news

The hearing examining the appointment of John Barilaro to a lucrative New York trade job has resumed, with senior public servant Kylie Bell now giving evidence.

You can read about what she’s likely to be asked about here.

Bell, who was on the selection panel that picked Barilaro for the role, has started by saying she was not contacted by Stuart Ayres, his office, or any other political office during the appointment process.

She says she picked Barilaro for the job “based on his skills and his experience for this particular role”.

Peter Hannam

RBA pessimistic about inflation decline

The Reserve Bank is more pessimistic than the government about when and how quickly inflation will decline, implying it may need to hoist its interest rate higher for longer to keep price increases in check.

A stone mason has died after being critically injured by falling scaffolding and concrete at a school in Sydney’s inner west.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the incident took place at Fort Street High in Petersham.

NSW police have told the Guardian:

At 11.20am today (Friday 5 August 2022), emergency services were called to a school on Parramatta Road, Petersham, following reports scaffolding had collapsed on a man.

Officers attached to Inner West Police Area Command attended the location and found a worker trapped underneath large stones.

NSW Ambulance Paramedics attended and pronounced the man deceased; he is yet to be formally identified.

A crime scene has been established and Safe Work NSW has been notified of the incident.

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) said they were at the scene, where the incident occurred just before 11.30am at the Parramatta Road site.

There were four FRNSW rescue crews there with NSW Police Rescue and NSW Ambulance paramedics.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 82 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 705
• In hospital: 141 (with 2 people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 29
• Cases: 12,908
• In hospital: 2,224 (with 63 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 257
• In hospital: 54 (with 1 person in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: 8
• Cases: 4,926
• In hospital: 736 (with 22 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: 8
• Cases: 2,421
• In hospital: 316 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 2
• Cases: 765
• In hospital: 902 (with 2 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 34
• Cases: 7,502
• In hospital: 699 (with 39 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 1 (dating back to 31 July)
• Cases: 3,239
• In hospital: 351 (with 14 people in ICU)

There were 4,926 new cases in the last reporting period, and 22 people are in intensive care.

Peter Hannam

RBA releases quarterly statement on monetary policy

Lots to wade through in the RBA’s quarterly statement on monetary policy, which has just landed here.

Among the things that stand out is a slightly higher inflation forecast than the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, cited from Treasury in his “state of the economy” just last week.

Here’s the RBA’s forecast released today:

And here’s the numbers Chalmers released:

It’s a bit subtle, but you see that the RBA is predicting headline consumer price retreating at a slower pace than Treasury forecasts.

For instance, by June 2023, the RBA expects CPI to still be at 6.25%, while Treasury was tipping 5.5% for consumer price increases by then.

By June 2024, the RBA sees CPI still outside its preferred 2% to 3% target range at 3.5%.

Treasury had it pencilled inside that range at 2.75% by then.

Those differences suggest the central bank is more pessimistic about inflation’s decline.

Perhaps, and only perhaps, that means a greater inclination to cool the economy – with its main lever being raising interest rates. Here’s one source for the inflation that the RBA and Treasury both expect to reach 7.75% by the end of the year.

The RBA said:

Domestic retail gas and electricity prices are expected to increase by 10–15% over the second half of 2022, given the high global price of energy and recent disruptions in the domestic electricity market.

Trimmed mean inflation is also expected to peak around year-end, at about 6%, as firms continue to pass transport and other non-labour cost pressures through to their own prices.

Back in May, the RBA was forecasting that gauge – which strips out more volatile items – would come in at 4.75% by the end of the year. Back then they were expecting it to ease back to 3.5% by next June, but now the RBA reckons it will still be running at 5% by them. Hence, bad news.

The RBA said on Friday:

As supply constraints continue to ease, inflation is expected to decline over coming years, to be back around the top of the 2% to 3% target range by the end of 2024.

Michael McGowan

Barilaro considered resigning prior to September, inquiry hears

John Barilaro’s former chief of staff Siobhan Hamblin has told the parliamentary inquiry probing his appointment to a lucrative New York trade job that she urged him not to quit parliament when Gladys Berejiklian announced she would resign in October last year.

Labor’s shadow treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, has been pressing her on whether Barilaro had been planning to resign in September last year prior to a cabinet decision making the trade postings ministerial appointments.

She says:

I was broadly aware that Mr Barilaro was intending to resign at some point. What I will say is – following the events of the resignation of the premier, my advice to Mr Barilaro on that day was that any plans that you may have to leave politics should be shelved for the sake of stable government and for the people of NSW.

Hamblin insists that Barilaro had raised the prospect on numerous occasions prior to September. She says:

The nature of that took various forms, sometimes quite flippant [and at] other times somewhat more serious.

Mookhey wants to know exactly when in September Barilaro raised the idea of his resignation, but Hamblin can’t recall. Eventually Mookhey asks:

Was the actual reason why the deputy premier, in the middle of Covid, was urgently seeking a cabinet decision to turn these into [ministerial] appointments because he knew he was intending to resign?

She replies: “That’s a question for Mr Barilaro.”

NSW Health is urging people to be alert to the symptoms of meningococcal disease following the death of a Sydney man in his 40s from the disease.

NSW Health is advising people to act immediately if any symptoms appear. If you want to know what those symptoms are, you can find them here.

There have been 15 cases of meningococcal disease reported in NSW so far this year.

The state health department said in a statement:

While meningococcal disease is now uncommon thanks to vaccination, it can occur year round. We tend to see increases in late winter and early spring, with children under five and 15 to 25-year-olds at the greatest risk of contracting the disease.

Dr Jeremy McAnulty, the executive director of health protection NSW, stressed early intervention can be lifesaving.

Meningococcal disease can be fatal within hours if left untreated. Knowing the symptoms could help prevent premature death or life-long disability.

While it is a well-known symptom of meningococcal disease, the rash does not always occur, or may present late in the illness.

If symptoms rapidly worsen, or if your child is very unwell, call triple zero (000) or go straight to your nearest emergency department.”

For more information on vaccination or symptoms, transmission, risks and treatment of meningococcal, see the NSW Health website

Michael McGowan

Barilaro’s chief of staff maintains her focus was Covid-19 roadmap, inquiry hears

The words “I don’t recall” are being repeated quite a lot from Siobhan Hamblin, the former chief of staff to John Barilaro.

Hamblin is appearing before a parliamentary inquiry into Barilaro’s appointment to a lucrative New York trade job.

As I said earlier, she’s being asked about a cabinet submission in September last year which made the trade jobs ministerial appointments.

Hamblin says that while she was aware of the submission, she wasn’t involved in drafting it and doesn’t recall much detail about it. She was focused on the roadmap being produced by the government to exit the long Delta lockdown.

Labor’s shadow treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, says it was “100% appropriate” for her to be focused on that, but says:

The obvious question is, given the government was obsessed, rightly, with getting the roadmap out, why was Mr Barilaro asking for this cabinet submission to be produced ASAP for the same day as NSW is meant to learn we’re getting out of Covid lockdown?

Hamblin responded:

That’s a question for Mr Barilaro … I don’t have recollections of those conversations.”

Barilaro’s replacement Stuart Ayres, has said he reversed that decision when he took over but as we heard earlier this week the head of Investment NSW, Amy Brown was never formally told the decision was reversed.

The decision is crucial because, as we heard, it created a “grey area” for Brown when she was filling the role which meant she felt she had to “sense-check” the hiring process with Ayres.

Ayres resigned from cabinet and as deputy Liberal leader earlier this week over questions about his role in the appointment.

Armitt is providing an update on police investigations since police arrived at the scene:

Overnight we took a number of people into custody. There were five persons located on the property, two of those persons were involved in a power company and they were – after taking statements from them – they were released. Three other people were property owners or family of the property owners. Two of those persons have now subsequently been released and we have a 59-year-old man in custody who is a long-term resident of the area. He will be remaining in our custody and we expect to lay criminal charges in relation to the matter some time later on this afternoon.

No charges have been laid so far.