Australia news as it happened: Liberal leader Sussan Ley details ‘disappointing’ split with Nationals; Michele Bullock defends interest rates strategy; Tim Wilson wins Goldstein

Maybe that headline should read “What didn’t happen today?!”

We will have more for you in the next live news coverage. Here’s a quick recap of a huge day of news:

• The Reserve Bank has cut interest rates for just the second time in three years – from 4.1 per cent down to 3.85 per cent. Check here to see what it saves you.
• The Nationals have split from the federal Coalition. It leaves the Liberals with 28 seats in the lower house and the Nationals 15, compared to Labor’s 94. Here’s a deeper look into why it happened.
• The Melbourne seat of Goldstein appears to have been called for Tim Wilson (again), by just 124 votes. Incumbent teal MP Zoe Daniel is still not conceding.
• Australia has joined a coalition of 23 countries demanding the full resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza and accusing Israel of politicising food and medicine deliveries to Palestinians.
• In Sydney, trains are slowly recovering after a live wire falling on a train caused major network-wide delays. Follow the live updates here.
• Staying in NSW, and there are flood warnings for more than a dozen rivers as heavy rains continue to lash parts of the state.
• And in Victoria, the state handed down its budget on Tuesday. It includes a $600 million surplus, more money for hospitals, prisons and roads, but also debt that will cost the state $36 billion in interest payments over the next four years. Find out more here.

Australian shares have rallied after the Reserve Bank announced a widely expected interest rate cut, which will provide relief to thousands of businesses.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 48.2 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 8,343.3.

The broader All Ordinaries gained 48.6 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 8,573.4.

Earlier this afternoon the RBA announced it would reduce the cash interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent, its lowest level in two years.

Just before the decision, the top 200 was up 0.35 per cent and the All Ordinaries was up 0.33 per cent.

AAP

The father of the merged Liberal National Party in Queensland insists the federal Coalition split will have no bearing on the state party.

LNP president Lawrence Springborg – who, as Queensland Nationals leader, helped orchestrate the 2008 merger with the Liberals – said the fractures in Canberra would not extend to the merged party.

“The current discussions between the respective federal party rooms have no bearing or impact on the organisational arrangements within the Queensland LNP, which has recently won the Brisbane City Council election, state election, and was the only state or territory to secure the majority of seats and the majority of votes in the recent federal election,” he said.

Of the 16 LNP MPs elected this month, 10 sit in the Liberal party room in Canberra and six with the Nationals.

Read more here.

Meanwhile in Victoria, that state’s opposition leader, Brad Battin, was on 3AW radio this afternoon saying his Coalition with the state Nationals remained “rock solid”.

It was David Littleproud who pulled the trigger, but the Nationals’ decision to split from the Liberal Party and go its own way has been a decade in the making.

And it is a decision that could damn the conservative parties to at least two more terms in opposition – an outcome already on the cards – and one that all but guarantees Sussan Ley will never be prime minister.

This is a breakup that has been more than a decade in the making, after years of arguments over economic and climate policy and more.

Littleproud tried to soften the blow on Tuesday, leaning heavily into the idea that this will just be a temporary split, while deputy Kevin Hogan went so far as to suggest “we’ve all broken up in a relationship that’s been important to us, and very often, more often than not, you get back together”.

But this is not a temporary break from an adolescent love affair, this is the first split between Australia’s two major conservative parties in close to 40 years. And Littleproud and his team have made a cold, calculated decision that protects their interests and damns the Liberals.

Read the full analysis from James Massola here.