Australia news LIVE: Labor cautiously welcomes interest rate cut; US and Russia launch talks on end to war without Ukraine

Amid building political speculation around what impact the Reserve Bank’s rate cut will have on the 2025 federal election, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared Labor isn’t “getting carried away” by the decision.

After welcoming the relief to millions of Australian households, Chalmers said that while he acknowledged the political commentary, he’d tried not to add to it.

“I think the facts of the matter are that under this Labor government, we’ve been able to get inflation down, wages up, keep unemployment low, and now we’ve got interest rates coming down as well,” he said.

“They will be part of the story that we tell Australians when we ask them to make an important choice later this year.”

Chalmers said the government’s maintained focus on cost of living and inflation was key to the decision.

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“It’s why we’ve made so much progress and it’s why we’ve seen this outcome today from the Reserve Bank.”

Asked to reflect on the political implications of the decision, Chalmers wouldn’t be drawn on how the rate cut might impact the date of the upcoming federal election or the likelihood that the budget scheduled for March 25 will go ahead.

“We’re not getting carried away by this decision today. It will help, it won’t solve every challenge in our economy or in household budgets, and that’s why the hard work of managing our economy and our budget responsibly continues.”