Chris Brew

Hey, Chris Brew with you.

Welcome to The Briefing.

They're the places we go to socialise and unwind, but a growing number of restaurants and bars in Melbourne are instead becoming crime scenes.

The situation has become so dire with attacks, including drive-by shootings and Molotov cocktails, that a police task force has been set up.

That chat is coming up in the second half of this episode.

First, though, let's get into the headlines with Sasha Barber-Gatt.

It's Wednesday the 6th of May.

Yeah, good note there.

And look, in her announcement, the Reserve Bank's Governor Michelle Bullock issued a warning to the federal government about handouts in the upcoming budget, saying things like cutting the fuel excise and tax offsets increase inflationary pressures, which the bank is trying to dampen with interest rate rises.

Now, there have been reports of a potential new tax sweetener in Tuesday's budget for households, a one-off perk of between $200 to $300, but the Treasurer has defended the government's record on spending.

As to what's next for interest rates, well, economists are split.

Some are predicting a holding pattern until around August.

Others think we're in for another hike come June.

The World Health Organization says it suspects there may have been rare human-to-human transmission of Hunter virus on a cruise ship docked in the Atlantic where three passengers have died.

The virus is usually spread from rodents, but the WHO says it could have spread among really close contacts aboard the Hondias.

That was WHO official Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove there.

While she said human transmission is rare and the current risk to the public is low, she did say the WHO suspects the first patients to fall ill could have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina where they picked up that rare human-to-human strain.

Around 150 people are currently stuck on the ship just off Cape Verde, which has not been allowed to dock as a precaution.

Four Australians are on board, as to our 17 US citizens, among them a travel blogger, Jake Rosemary, who yesterday posted a video saying passengers were struggling with the uncertainty.

Now, there are concerns that because of the incubation period of this virus, they could be on the ship a little longer.