Key news items
- Reserve Bank to be stripped of its power to set interest rates
- Sudan's army has declared a new 24-hour ceasefire
- UN, Australia to expand its resettlement programs.
- Fewer racist abuse or physical violence incidents against Chinese Australians
- Five-hundred employees at Star Casino are to lose their jobs
- Father Bob McGuire has died at the age of 88.
The Reserve Bank board will be stripped of its power to set interest rates and be replaced by a board of monetary policy experts.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is releasing a major review into the RBA, its first formal review since the 1990s.
The Albanese government is expected to provide in-principle support for all 51 specific recommendations made in the review.
The split power between a governance board and monetary policy experts will bring the RBA in line with other central banks.
Sudan's army has declared a new 24-hour ceasefire in their intense battle with paramilitary forces across the country.
The truce is intended to allow civilians stuck amid the conflict to leave.
The previous truce, which the paramilitary rivals had already announced, was supposed to come into effect at 6pm in Sudan on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear whether fighting had stopped, with continuous bombardments heard earlier in the day in the capital Khartoum.
The conflict stems from a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, over a plan to integrate the paramilitary fighters into the regular army.
The head of the United Nations refugee agency has told SBS he's been assured by the Prime Minister that Australia will expand its resettlement programs.
Filippo Grandi's visit to Australia is the first by a U-N High Commissioner for Refugees in 11 years.
He described his meetings with Anthony Albanese, as well as the Foreign and Immigration ministers, as "very productive".
A new poll has found the number of Chinese Australians facing racist abuse or physical violence has decreased over the last three years.
However the Lowy Institute's survey has found more than one in three say they continue to face discrimination.
The poll also found Prime Minister Anthony Albanese enjoys strong support in the Chinese Australian community.
Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Jennifer Hsu [[soo]] says 92 per cent of Chinese Australians think Australia is a good place to live.
A self-described 'larrikin', Father Bob McGuire [[muh-G'WIRE]] is being remembered as 'a social justice warrior' and 'the people's priest'.
Father Bob, as he came to be known, died in Melbourne on Wednesday [[APRIL 19]] at the age of 88.
It is his unwavering commitment to feeding and housing the poor, hungry and homeless of Melbourne for which he will be most fondly remembered.
