Palmer puts government on alert over carbon tax repeal; Inflation defies economists’ predictions: Midday Roundup

Clive Palmer has indicated his Palmer United Party might not support the repeal of the carbon and mining taxes.

However, The Australian Financial Review reports the federal government may scrap its plans to cut welfare payments to children of war veterans in order to secure the support of the mining magnate, whose party will wield significant power in the new Senate from July 1.

Yesterday, Palmer accused the federal government of “blackmail” over its plans to tie its direction action policy into the federal budget.

“If they’re going to adopt a tactic like that we’ll have to reconsider our position when it comes to the mining tax and carbon tax,” he told reporters.

Inflation lower than expected

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today show inflation rose by 0.6% in the March 2014 quarter, compared to 0.8% the previous quarter.

Inflation forecasts for this quarter fell short, with an AAP survey of 12 economists predicting the consumer price index would rise by 0.8%.

Shares

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 35.7 points to 5515.0 at 11:42 AEST. Last night the Dow Jones closed up 0.4 %, rising 65.12 points to 16,514.37.