Updated: 28 October 2026, 12:25 p.m. AEDT Australia’s annual inflation rate increased to 4.3 per cent in September, up from 4.0 per cent in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 0.8 per cent during the month, twice the August increase. Housing made the largest contribution to the annual rise, with prices up 5.2 per cent. The ABS release identified higher new dwelling and electricity costs as contributors. New dwelling prices were 4.7 per cent higher than a year earlier. Transport prices rose 8.7 per cent over the year. Automotive fuel increased 9.4 per cent in September alone, which the bureau attributed to higher world oil prices. The annual trimmed mean measure of underlying inflation reached 3.6 per cent. August’s figure was revised down from 3.6 to 3.5 per cent following changes to seasonal factors. For the September quarter, the overall CPI rose 1.3 per cent, while the quarterly trimmed mean on its pre-October 2025 basis increased...