As it happened: RBA cuts interest rates for first time in more than four years to 4.1 per cent; ACCC gives the go ahead to Virgin-Qatar alliance

Thanks for following our rolling coverage of RBA cutting interest rates and other local and international news.

This is where we’ll wrap up today’s coverage, but here’s a look back at some of day’s top stories:

• The Reserve Bank has cut the official interest rate for the first time in more than four years, delivering 0.25 percentage points of relief for mortgage holders. Millions of home buyers have been delivered financial relief after the nation’s major banks pledged to pass on the first cut in official interest rates in more than four years, but the Reserve Bank has dampened hopes for another rate cut in the middle of the looming federal election campaign. Read the full story here.

• Northcote home owner Emmanuella Grace bought her forever home close to the peak of the market, and has been feeling the pressure of interest rate rises. She welcomes the Reserve Bank’s decision on Tuesday to cut the cash rate to 4.1 per cent, and says even a small reduction in her mortgage will help her family.

• One of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles, Gerald Ridsdale, dies. Read the full story here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sidestepped questions about his preparedness to intervene in Sydney’s rail dispute but warned the union that it risked alienating the public.

The rail union says it is struggling to control an “angry workforce” while NSW Premier Chris Minns has warned no option is off the table if his government’s legal challenge fails this week.

The warring parties are set to appear in the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday, and Minns has foreshadowed engaging Albanese and federal Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt in order to prevent further industrial action.

The opposition has also called for Albanese to intervene. He would not be drawn on whether he would step in when asked on 2GB this afternoon.

“The Fair Work Commission meeting tomorrow, I hope that it’s resolved, and I support the Minns government,” he said.

“I say to the union involved that they risk alienating the general public, [who] I think want to see this resolved. They want to see people back at work and they want to see the trains function.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described today’s interest rate cut as welcome news for millions of people and declared that Australia had dealt with high inflation better than comparable countries.

Speaking on 2GB after the Reserve Bank announced a rate cut this afternoon, Albanese said it was “the rate relief that Australians need, and they deserve”.

“There’s more work to do, people are still under pressure, but that’s why my government’s focus will continue to be on helping Australians with the cost of living, while continuing to make sure that we deal with that inflationary pressure,” he said.

Asked why the Reserve Bank in Australia had taken longer to cut interest rates than the United States and New Zealand, Albanese emphasised that inflation had peaked higher and earlier in those countries.

“New Zealand is in a deep recession as we speak, with rising unemployment, they’ve had inflation that was higher than it was here, and interest rates that went higher as well,” he said.

“Here, what we’ve managed to do, is we have inflation coming down, employment being strong, with the lowest unemployment rate on average than any government in the last 50 years.”

“Importantly, wages [are] increasing. And now interest rates are falling today – yes, for the first time – but that is a very welcome statement by the Reserve Bank today.”

Macquarie and the subsidiaries of the big four banks will also pass on the rate cut to mortgage holders.

Westpac subsidiary St George will cut 25 basis points off variable loans from March 4.

CBA’s Unloan will pass on the savings the quickest from February 21, while Bankwest’s changes will come into effect from February 28.

Macquarie will also shave 25 basis points off variable loans from that date.

Customers of NAB subsidiary UBank will receive rate relief of 0.25 percentage points from February 27.

Emmanuella Grace bought her forever home close to the peak of the market, and has been feeling the pressure of interest rate rises.

She welcomes the Reserve Bank’s decision on Tuesday to cut the cash rate to 4.1 per cent, and says even a small reduction in her mortgage will help her family. But she’s concerned the savings won’t make up for other rising expenses.

Read more about the breathing room the rate cut will offer Grace and her family here.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock confirmed that some of the arguments against rate cuts were based on the labour market.

We have a view that the labour market is tight and also that it has tightened recently. One of the stronger arguments, I think, on the side of not doing anything, was caution ... ‘let’s wait for more data to see what is exactly happening to the labour market. Is it feeding through to wages pressure and inflation?’

That is probably the strongest argument and I think when you hear us talking about the statement on monetary policy or read about us talking about it, you will see the labour market does feature quite prominently.