Easter bunnies and eggs are burning a bigger hole in Australian wallets than ever before and more chocolate pain could trickle down under US tariffs.

Global cocoa prices have dropped 21 per cent compared to last Easter, data analysis from trading and investing platform eToro shows, fuelled by sunnier production forecasts for 2025.

But prices for cocoa beans almost doubled from $6500 to $12,500 per tonne between March 2024 and January, and remain almost 200 per cent higher than Easter in 2023.

“In recent years, adverse weather conditions have affected crops in Africa, which we aren’t seeing right now,” eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert told AAP.

“Record high cocoa prices through 2024 mean consumers globally will still be feeling the pinch when it comes to buying Easter treats this year, and Aussies are no exception.”

When combined with other market forces, it means Australians are paying up to $2 more for their favourite chocolate treats this Easter.

A 180g Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate block cost $6 last Easter and is now $8 at full price, while Ferrero Rocher Easter eggs jumped from $8 to $10.

Manufacturers have also turned to “shrinkflation”, with Cadbury not touching the price of its hunting Easter eggs but reducing the number of goodies from 12 to 11.

Mr Gilbert warned shelf prices could rise even higher beyond Easter as top cocoa growers Ivory Coast and Ghana have been hit by US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, disrupting global trade flow.

“Both are looking to negotiate with President Trump,” he said.

“But if these tariffs stay, then this will undoubtedly have an effect on prices and thus Australian consumers too.”

Rabobank commodities analyst Paul Joules pointed out there was an uptick in cocoa prices when the tariffs were unveiled in early April, before quickly coming down.

“It just adds to the volatility and then at the same time you’ve got some genuine supply and production issues,” he told AAP.

“But the bottom line is we’ve been in a very tight supply picture for over a year now and that’s going to take a while to fix itself.”

Ivory Coast and Ghana produce 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa and growers are insulated from broader commodity volatility as their nation’s governments set farmgate prices once or twice a year, Mr Joules said.

“That’s another element that suggests (prices) will be a bit slower to come down,” he added.

Australians are forecast to spend $4.8 billion on this year’s Easter festivities, up from $4 billion in 2024, according to a survey by comparison site Finder.

The survey of 1004 people showed fewer intended to buy chocolate this Easter compared to last, down from 54 per cent to 49 per cent, and were bracing to spend more ($68 instead of $57).

Easter was continuing to put pressure on family budgets, prompting many to rethink their plans, Finder’s Sarah Megginson said.

“A lot of families are giving homemade gifts like rocky road or lollies in small hampers instead this Easter, to save money while still enjoying the festivities,” she said.

Not only chocolate bunnies are causing headaches this Easter.

Farmers have reported paddocks in NSW’s Riverina region are swarming with wild rabbits every night, ravaging crops and pastures.

In his Easter message, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher called for people to “dare to hope” amid testing times across the world.

“Trade wars, military wars and cyber wars. Natural disasters and climate change. Cost of living, recession, political instability … we can be short on reasons to hope,” he said.

“Yet as the great Martin Luther King Jr pointed out, it’s only when its dark that we can see the stars.”

As the election campaign hits a brief pause for Easter, Labor has positioned itself as the protector of penalty rates for those working during the holiday period.

The government on Saturday announced it would enshrine penalty rates in law if re-elected.

That would prevent business groups, such as the Australian Retailers Association, from applying to the Fair Work Commission to cut the provisions from award agreements. 

Industrial relations issues have worked in Labor’s favour during the campaign, with polling showing Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s short-lived pledge to force public servants back into the office fared poorly with voters.

With cost-of-living concerns at the forefront of the campaign, more polling has shown how parties treat penalty rates could be a factor in how people vote.

The Essential Research polling, commissioned by Australian Unions, found 70 per cent of respondents said protecting penalty rates for workers would be an issue voters take into consideration at the ballot box.

The poll also said 44 per cent of people were more likely to vote for a party that had policies in place to protect penalty rates, compared with 10 per cent being less likely to support such a party.

Retail worker Pauline Lethborg said the extra money from penalty rates went a long way.

“If we lose penalty rates, it doesn’t just affect the older workers, it’s the younger ones as well. That bonus money goes to pay rent and food,” she said.

“The cost of living these days is very hard, right across the board.

“It’s not like we’re being paid $100 an hour, a lot of retail workers are on $20 to $25 an hour … penalty rates is what gives them their supplement income.”

The Australian Retail Association earlier in 2025 submitted a proposal for some staff at large companies to opt out of penalty rates in exchange for a 25 per cent raise.

Employer lobby Australian Industry Group has backed a similar push for the clerks and banking awards, arguing the rise in working from home has made it impractical for employees to log their hours and compounds the regulatory burden on employers.

Labor had filed a submission to the Fair Work Commission opposing the changes, while also calling for the coalition to provide clarity on its penalty rate stance.

Around three million workers would be affected if Labor succeeds in legislating to protect penalty rates.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said employees deserved to be rewarded for giving up family time to work on weekends.

“We will always stand with workers to protect their wages so that we can help them deal with the pressures of today and get ahead in the future,” he said.

Opposition employment spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said in February penalty rates would not be cut under a future coalition government, dismissing Labor attacks as a scare campaign.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton spent Good Friday in Sydney, amid a lull in campaigning for the Easter period.

But electioneering will heat up again with early voting opening on Tuesday ahead of the May 3 poll.

Indonesia will increase imports of US food and commodities and reduce orders from countries the Southeast Asian nation currently buys the products from, its chief economic minister says.

Airlangga Hartarto is in Washington as part of a delegation of senior officials to meet US counterparts for talks on a 32 per cent tariff on Indonesian exports, which has been paused for 90 days.

Indonesia has proposed increasing its imports from the US by up to $US19 billion ($A30 billion), including $US10 billion of energy imports, to eliminate its trade surplus with Washington and avoid the tariffs threatened by the administration of President Donald Trump.

“Indonesia also plans to buy agricultural products including wheat, soybeans and soybean meal and increase purchases of capital goods from the US,” Airlangga said at a news conference in Washington that was broadcast on Zoom.

Indonesia will also work on critical minerals and simplify procedures related to American horticultural products imports.

“We will also facilitate American companies that have been operating in Indonesia, related to permits and incentives,” he said on Thursday.

After a meeting with the US trade representative and the secretary of commerce, the two countries agreed to complete negotiations within the next 60 days.

Hoards of seafood lovers have hit Australia’s biggest fish market to land themselves a Good Friday feast.

As punters gear up for a bumper, back-to-back long weekend period, customers poured into the renowned Sydney Fish Market with more than 50,000 expected to buy over 650 tonnes of seafood, more than the weight of a jumbo jet.

It could be the last at the current site with a new $1 billion site set for completion in the coming year. 

Joli Kosapan, who works at Peter’s Fish Market, said it was her shop’s busiest day of the year.

“Very, very busy … people have been here since 3am, 4am, and the early morning was the busiest period,” she told AAP.

“The lines here are very long and we’ve got sushi, sashimi, fresh fish, hot food and an oyster bar.”

Throngs of people surveyed shops for their pick of fresh fish, including premium options such as coral trout and crab legs, priced at $70 and $90 per kilogram.

Amy James opted for a somewhat more affordable whole snapper, coming in at $30 a kilogram.

“We’ll have a nice meal as a family tonight,” she told AAP.

The lunch rush brought lengthy queues, including a 30-deep line at Peter’s hot seafood bar.

Patiently waiting in the line were Rob Henderson and his seven-year-old son.

“He wanted to come down, so here we are,” Mr Henderson told AAP.

“It’s Good Friday, it’s fresh seafood and there’s not a lot else to do … there’s not a lot of hot food at the market so it’s worth the wait.”

Outside, market-goers sat and enjoyed their feed under a glorious autumn sun, with fresh fruit and ice cream also popular purchases along with hot and cold drinks.

In Victoria, the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Good Friday Appeal was boosted by a $1 million donation from the state government.

Premier Jacinta Allan became teary when recalling her now-teenage daughter’s stay at the hospital as an infant.

“My family is like so many other Victorian families where we’ve received that very, very special care at the Royal Children’s Hospital where our daughter spent her very first Easter,” she told reporters on Friday.

“Back then it was incredibly tough and incredibly challenging.”

Regional Australia is set to capitalise with a commercial boon expected from red-hot holiday travel, with Easter and ANZAC breaks falling on back-to-back weekends.

Towns are expected to win big with accommodation, cafes and restaurants booked out ahead of time, said NAB retail customer executive Larna Manson.

“Road trips across Australia are proving to be a more cost-effective way families can enjoy some time away and make new memories without the price tag of an overseas trip,” she said.

With temperatures expected to rise around the country, beachgoers are urged to take care this long weekend.

Heavy swells along the east coast brought tragedy, with two drownings and a fisherman dead after he was swept off the rocks. 

Taking advantage of the conditions, Victoria is playing host to the world’s best surfers at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach starting Friday.

On the other side of the country, Tropical Cyclone Errol is approaching the Kimberley coast of Western Australia and will generate wind and rain into the weekend.

While a sunny and dry Easter is expected across Queensland, widespread major flooding continues for southwest Queensland, northeast South Australia and northern New South Wales.

Hostilities in the battle for the prime ministership have been briefly paused as leaders struck a more subdued tone on the campaign trail on Good Friday.

With most of the country putting thoughts of an election on the backburner during the Easter break, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton also adopted a more laidback approach.

The prime minister joined Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale for a casual stroll with their dogs Toto and Toby at a park in the marginal seat.

Chatting with some locals, the conversation naturally turned to the prime minister’s pet passion – the South Sydney Rabbitohs – who face a tough test against the NRL ladder-leading Bulldogs on Friday afternoon.

“Souths are gonna win, the Easter bunnies,” Mr Albanese quipped.

Mr Laxale won the seat in Sydney’s inner north from the Liberals at the 2022 election, but a redistribution has put the electorate notionally into the opposition column on a minuscule margin of 0.04 per cent.

Meanwhile, the opposition leader attended one of Australia’s largest Good Friday services at the Monastery of Saint Charbel in western Sydney alongside 20,000 Maronite worshippers.

Mr Dutton was alongside former prime minister Scott Morrison at the service, along with Labor’s Tony Burke, MP for the church’s local electorate of Watson.

The opposition leader is hoping the Easter break can lead to a campaign reset, with fresh polling showing the coalition on track to record an unwelcome election record.

The latest YouGov poll, provided to AAP, showed the coalition tied with Labor for first preferences after its primary vote fell to 33 per cent.

If the poll results were replicated at the May 3 election, the coalition would receive its lowest share of primary votes since the Liberal Party was formed in 1944.

YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said the opposition would need a miracle to be able to recover, with the election just two weeks away.

“This is a dramatic fall from the coalition’s position only a few weeks ago in February from being in the box seat to win the election,” he told AAP.

“It would take a historic turnaround for the coalition to win … given voters are already receiving their postal votes and pre-poll starts on Tuesday.

“The coalition is running out of time.”

The poll showed Labor increasing its lead on a two-party preferred basis, with the government getting half a percentage point boost to be ahead 53 per cent to 47 per cent.

It’s Labor’s highest two-party preferred result for 18 months and almost a full point higher than its election-winning result in 2022.

The YouGov poll also showed Anthony Albanese stabilising his lead as preferred prime minister over Mr Dutton, leading 48 per cent to 38 per cent.

While Mr Dutton has gained some ground in his net-satisfaction levels, rising from minus 15 to minus 10 since the previous week, he still trails Mr Albanese, who sits on minus six.

“The main driver of the coalition’s fall in primary votes is voters rejecting seeing Peter Dutton as prime minister,” Mr Smith said.

“It can be seen in the strong preference shown by men and outer-suburban voters for the prime minister over Peter Dutton.

“If Peter Dutton is rejected by outer-suburban voters and men, it’s game over for the coalition at the election.”

The YouGov poll of 1506 voters was conducted between April 11 and 15, with a margin of error of 3.3 per cent.

US President Donald Trump has launched a series of attacks against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing the central bank chief of “playing politics” by not cutting interest rates, asserting he had the power to evict Powell from his job “real fast,” and looking forward to the day when Powell was gone.

Powell’s termination as Fed chair “cannot come fast enough”, the president said in morning comments posted to social media. Trump’s post also said the Fed should be cutting interest rates and called a recent Powell speech about the economy a “complete mess.”

Trump expanded in a later press appearance that reflected how the Fed’s decisions could weigh on the president’s fortunes.

Interest rates on home mortgages and other consumer credit remain high, for example, and the Fed is likely to offer little relief now that inflation risks are rising in the wake of Trump’s tariff plans.

“The Fed really owes it to the American people to get interest rates down. That’s the only thing he’s good for,” Trump said.

“I am not happy with him. If I want him out of there he’ll be out real fast believe me.”

Trump’s pointed remarks about Powell echo the sometimes intense language used against the Fed chair in Trump’s first term. It pushes into an issue with the potential to rock global markets if the president tries to fire Powell because he disagrees about his monetary policy decisions.

Indeed, Trump has privately discussed firing Powell for months and talked about it with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, including the possibility of then selecting Warsh as Powell’s replacement, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Warsh for his part has advised against trying to fire Powell, arguing that Trump should let the Fed chair complete his term without interference, the report said.

It is not clear Trump has the power to remove Powell, who is appointed by the president but confirmed by the Senate. An effort by Trump to remove members of other independent agencies is currently before the Supreme Court, but Powell on Wednesday said he felt the case would not change the Fed’s longstanding independence in monetary policy, something that has broad bipartisan support.

Contrary to Trump’s assertion that Powell would leave if asked, Powell, a former private equity investor with enough independent wealth to fund his own legal challenge, has said he had no plans to vacate the job before his term ends in May of next year.

Trump’s blow-up at Powell was sensitive enough, Politico said in a report citing unnamed sources, that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been cautioning White House officials against attempting to fire Powell, saying it would risk destabilising financial markets.

The coalition is on track to record its lowest share of votes at a federal election since the party’s inception, with Peter Dutton fast running out of time to salvage his chances of becoming prime minister.

The latest YouGov poll, provided to AAP, showed the coalition tied with Labor for first preferences after its primary vote fell to 33 per cent.

If the poll results were replicated at the May 3 election, the coalition would receive its lowest share of primary votes since the Liberal Party was formed in 1944.

YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said the opposition would need a miracle to be able to recover, with the election just two weeks away.

“This is a dramatic fall from the coalition’s position only a few weeks ago in February from being in the box seat to win the election,” he told AAP.

“It would take a historic turnaround for the coalition to win … given voters are already receiving their postal votes and pre-poll starts on Tuesday.

“The coalition is running out of time.”

The poll showed Labor increasing its lead on a two-party preferred basis, with the government getting half a percentage point boost to be ahead 53 per cent to 47 per cent.

It’s Labor’s highest two-party preferred result for 18 months and almost a full point higher than its election-winning result in 2022.

Anthony Albanese has stabilised his lead as preferred prime minister over Peter Dutton, leading 48 per cent to 38 per cent.

While Mr Dutton has gained some ground in his net-satisfaction levels, rising from minus 15 to minus 10 since the previous week, he still trails Mr Albanese, who sits on minus six.

“The main driver of the coalition’s fall in primary votes is voters rejecting seeing Peter Dutton as prime minister,” Mr Smith said.

“It can be seen in the strong preference shown by men and outer-suburban voters for the prime minister over Peter Dutton.

“If Peter Dutton is rejected by outer-suburban voters and men, it’s game over for the coalition at the election.”

Mr Albanese leads Mr Dutton 49 per cent to 36 per cent in outer-metropolitan seats, with many of them being crucial mortgage belt electorates the opposition has been looking to win over on cost-of-living relief.

The prime minister is ahead 49 per cent to 40 per cent among male voters, while 47 per cent of women back Mr Albanese compared to 35 per cent for the opposition leader.

The poll comes as both parties prepare to put their campaigns briefly on hold for the Easter weekend.

The opposition will be hoping the break will provide a reset, with pre-poll voting set to begin after the four-day weekend.

The YouGov poll of 1506 voters was conducted between April 11 and 15, with a margin of error of 3.3 per cent.

Regional Australia is set to capitalise on the commercial boon expected from bumper holiday traffic, with Easter and ANZAC breaks falling on back-to-back weekends.

Towns are expected win big from an extra-long Easter break with accommodation, cafes and restaurants booked out by travellers ahead of time, said NAB retail customer executive Larna Manson.

“Road trips across Australia are proving to be a more cost-effective way families can enjoy some time away and make new memories without the price tag of an overseas trip,” she said.

For those staying closer to home in Australia’s biggest city, the renowned Sydney Fish Market will be open as usual on Good Friday for fresh seafood seekers, with about 650 tonnes expected to be sold to more than 50,000 shoppers.

But with the cost of living front and centre, fishmongers are recommending cheaper alternatives – king prawns for banana prawns, salmon for rainbow trout and vongole for mussels – which should still make for delectable platters but with less damage to wallets and purses.

While taking advantage of extended trading hours, shoppers feeling like recreating a biblical parable can pick up a few loaves of bread from the bakery, and a whole heap of cafes and restaurant at the harbourside hangout.

With temperatures expected to rise around the country, beachgoers are urged to take care this long weekend.

Taking advantage of the brilliant conditions, Victoria will play host to the world’s best surfers as they catch monster waves at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach starting Friday.

On the other side of the country, Tropical Cyclone Errol is sitting near the Kimberley coast of Western Australia and will generate wind and rain into the weekend.

While a sunny and dry Easter is expected across Queensland, widespread major flooding continues for southwest Queensland, northeast South Australia and northern New South Wales.

Police in several states have also urged drivers to slow down and be mindful on the roads during the public holidays to avoid fatal crashes.

Alphabet’s Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a judge has ruled, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its advertising products.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Publisher ad servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage their ad inventory.

Antitrust enforcers failed to prove a separate claim that the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of Regulatory Affairs, said Google will appeal the ruling.

“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” she said, adding that the company disagrees with the decision on its publisher tools.

“Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”

Google’s shares were down around 2.1 per cent at midday.

The decision clears the way for another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in those markets, such as sell off parts of its business at another trial that has yet to be scheduled.

The DOJ has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company’s publisher ad server and ad exchange.

Google now faces the possibility of two US courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices. A judge in Washington will hold a trial next week on the DOJ’s request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.

Google has previously explored selling off its ad exchange to appease European antitrust regulators, Reuters reported in September.

Brinkema oversaw a three-week trial last year on claims brought by the DOJ and a coalition of states.

Google used classic monopoly-building tactics of eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers in to using its products, and controlling how transactions occurred in the online ad market, prosecutors said at trial.

Google argued the case focused on the past, when the company was still working on making its tools able to connect to competitors’ products. Prosecutors also ignored competition from technology companies including Amazon.com and Comcast as digital ad spending shifted to apps and streaming video, Google’s lawyer said.

The European Central Bank has cut interest rates for the seventh time in a row to counter worries about economic growth fuelled by President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.

“The outlook for growth has deteriorated due to rising trade tensions,” the bank said on Thursday.

It cited “exceptional uncertainty” about the future economic situation, saying future rate decisions would be taken on a meeting by meeting basis.

The bank’s move should support economic activity in the 20 countries that use the euro currency by making credit more affordable for consumers and businesses.

The bank’s rate-setting council decided at a meeting in Frankfurt to lower its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.25 per cent. 

The bank has been steadily cutting rates after raising them sharply to combat an outbreak of inflation from 2022 to 2023.

Now that inflation has fallen, growth worries have taken centre stage. 

The economy in the 20 countries that use the euro grew a modest 0.2 per cent in the last three months of 2024. 

Inflation was 2.2 per cent in March, close to the bank’s target of 2 per cent.

The cut was widely expected by analysts given the sudden shadow cast over the eurozone’s growth outlook by Trump’s April 2 announcement of unexpectedly high tariffs, or import tax, on goods from other countries starting at 10 per cent and ranging as high as 49 per cent. 

The European Union faces a 20 per cent tariff.