Attorneys general meet to discuss antisemitism, online hate
Josh Butler
State and federal attorneys general will meet in Sydney on Friday, with antisemitism and online hate at the top of the agenda. For the first 2026 meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG), the group will discuss protecting Australians from the spread of hate, federal AG Michelle Rowland said.
Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant will present briefings to the group. SCAG will discuss rising antisemitism in Australia, which Rowland’s office said needed “a coordinated and sustained response”, including in fighting hate via social media.
“There is no place in Australia for hatred of any kind – online or offline,” Rowland said.
Online platforms play a significant role in the prevalence and spread of hateful content – a borderless challenge that demands coordinated national action.
Segal said antisemitism was becoming “more organised, more visible and more harmful”, requiring responses in law, education and enforcement.
Inman Grant said the eSafety office was looking at online hate.
“I am also pleased to have the opportunity to canvas a range of aligned, systemic and individual redress initiatives that could further target the perpetuation of this caustic and corrosive content, and provide education and training for Jewish community leaders and educators,” she said.
Key events
Banks’ cheaper mortgages pushing up the cash rate, RBA research finds
Luca Ittimani
The Reserve Bank will be forced to keep the cash rate higher than it would have before the pandemic because the banks have cut costs to offer cheaper mortgages, according to new RBA research.
Intense competition between banks has produced a cheap loan market, which banks have funded in part by skimping on customers’ savings accounts interest rates, the research suggests.
Banks now fund almost half of their lending with savers’ at-call deposits, up from 30% in 2011, researchers, Sarah Jennison, Josh Spiller and Peter Wallis found. This has helped cut banks’ lending costs to their lowest levels since the global financial crisis, in part because, post-pandemic, banks did not lift the interest paid on those savings by as far as the RBA lifted the official cash rate.
At the same time, banks have competed for mortgage customers by offering lower rates and bigger cashbacks and discounts, the analysts found.
The average outstanding variable rate in December was about 5.5%, while the cash rate was 3.5%. In 2019, the same typical home loan rate was about 4% but the cash was about 1% – implying banks’ profit margin on home loans has shrunk.
With mortgage rates now lower compared to the cash rate, the so-called “neutral” level of the cash rate has automatically become higher, the researchers found. That implies the RBA now has to keep the cash rate higher than it would have pre-pandemic to enable the same level of lending growth.
Lending surged after just three rate cuts in 2025, adding to inflationary pressures and surprising the RBA, according to its deputy governor, Andrew Hauser. This research helps solve part of that puzzle.
Good morning
Hello, and happy Friday. Nick Visser here to guide you through the morning’s news. Here’s what’s on deck:
In Sydney today, a meeting of state and federal attorneys general will address antisemitism and online hate.
In global news, high-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear program have ended with the Omani mediators claiming that “significant progress” – though observers found the brevity of Thursday’s second session ominous.
And Coles is in the spotlight again as it reveals its next set of profit results this morning, after spending the week defending allegations it misled shoppers during a marketing campaign.
We’ll have more soon.