The Reserve Bank needs to hold an emergency board meeting to cut interest rates immediately as the Trump tariffs cause a global economic crisis, the Greens say.
"The RBA will cut interest rates at their next meeting, but they should not sit on their hands for another six weeks while the crisis unfolds," Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.
"CPI is already in the RBA's target band and trending down, and economists are debating the size of the upcoming interest rate cut, not whether or not it will happen. There is no justification for the RBA to delay."
"People are hurting already, and every week of delay increases the risk of a recession which will hurt Australians even more."
"People are getting smashed everywhere - the supermarket checkout, power bills, health and transport costs. A bit of mortgage relief would ease the pressure on millions of Australians."
"We also need structural cost of living relief like putting dental into Medicare, which we could easily afford to do if we made big corporations pay their fair share of tax."
"If Labor had been prepared to work with the Greens we could have already made this massive legacy change to Medicare."
