Voice exit just the start: Viva

The Voice's Viva Lale has recorded a song that she wrote about tragically losing her cousins in a house fire.

SHE may be the hard luck story of The Voice, but Viva Lale sees her exit from the show's blind auditions as "the beginning not the end."

Inspired to enter the Channel 9 series after losing six members of her family in Australia's worst house fire the 26-year-old is now planning to record an emotional song she penned in honour of the tragedy.

Lale's teenage cousins, Lini Paul and Jeremiah, were among 11 people who perished in the Slacks Creek blaze in August, 2011.

FINDING A VOICE FOR LOVED ONES

The young music lovers had urged their talented cousin to audition for the first season of The Voice, but the grief-stricken songbird instead channelled her loss into a heartbreaking tribute song, God's Got You.

Viva Lale  who tried out at the blind auditions for The Voice Australia says her exit from the show is the beginning not the end. Picture: Dew Annette

The lyrics chart the horrifying night Lale and her family were telephoned with the news of the blaze at the new home her relatives had only recently moved to after living across the road from her in the Queensland town of Goodna.

In an exclusive acoustic performance of the track for News Limited, Lale sings: "that morning our lives had changed, I still remember the calls that were made, the chill and emptiness that came, like a hollow cave deep down and so far away."

"I just want to bring back a day, at least an hour or even a second of happiness and love that we shared, even though it hurts so bad, and our memories are all we have, I know God's got you."

Lale said writing the song marked "the start of my healing journey" and gave her the confidence to carry her cousins' memory with her as she tried out for the show this year.

Viva Lale singing Beyonce's Ave Maria, a song she performed at her cousins' funeral after they lost their lives in a tragic house fire.

"They passed away two months before auditions started for The Voice and at that time I wasn't ready. But this year I knew I had to do it...they gave me an extra boost."

Dedicating her blind audition performance of Mariah Carey's One Sweet Day to those lost in the house fire tragedy, Lale won a chance on the show singing the Beyonce song she sang at her cousins funeral.

As emotional and nervous as Lale was, she said she felt at peace on the TV stage - even if she didn't turn the coaches' chair.

"As soon as I hit that stage I wanted to cry, tears of happiness that I made it. That was my ultimate goal and I feel in myself that they were with me," she said.

Relatives of The Voice Australia contestant Viva Lale .. Paul Lini and Viva. Picture: Channel 9

Building on her Voice moment, Lale has booked regular Sunday sessions at Brisbane's Southbank and is available for corporate performances, via her agent, Shadow Management.

View the original article here

Big Four tipped to start rates war

AN unprecedented out-of-cycle interest rate cut may still be on the cards, even if the Reserve Bank keeps the official cash rate on hold, as expected, today.

News Limited's shadow Reserve Bank has voted to keep the cash rate on ice today, but three members think at least one major bank will slash its standard variable rate by five basis points anyway.

Research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, Stephen Kirchner, is tipping a five-basis point cut by one of the Big Four will spark a discounting war.

"I think there is scope for further out-of-cycle cuts in at least some lending rates, if not the standard variable rate," Dr Kirchner said.

However, any out-of-cycle cut would be taken into account when the Reserve Bank next came to consider cuts.

"This just lessens the prospects for cuts in the official rate," he said.

Fellow shadow board member and Airport Economist Tim Harcourt also expects an out-of-cycle cut. "If the RBA leaves rates unchanged, I think at least one of the Big Four banks will try to get first-mover advantage and cut mortgage rates by five basis points or so," he said.

Managing director of Market Economics, Stephen Koukoulas, has also argued lower funding costs will open the door to voluntary cuts.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist Saul Eslake said that at the very least, home borrowers could expect to pocket any further rate cut in full.

In addition, "the banks appear to have been more willing to 'discount' their mortgage rates in order to capturebusiness in recent months," Mr Eslake said.

A respected banking analyst with brokerage CSLA, Brian Johnson, said the chances of an out-of-cycle cut this month were "low" given higher payouts on term deposits and a likely rise in short-term wholesale funding costs if it became apparent the Reserve's rate cutting cycle was over. "The most favourable dynamic right now is that the 90-day bank bill, which most bank funding is swapped to, is below the Reserve Bank's 3 per cent cash rate. That's extremely favourable now but it could reverse in a heart beat".

However, politics could come into play. "I think it's highly unlikely in an election year that you'll see net interest margins expand." So if funding costs began to ease significantly, out of cycle rate cuts could be on the cards. "If things do really improve, we should expect banks to pass that on to consumers."

A spokeswoman for loan comparison website Rate City, Michelle Hutchison, said an out-of-cycle interest rate cut was "more likely than not" and would come after four small lenders cut their rates voluntarily last week. "We have never seen variable home loan rates fall out of cycle. We have seen them increase but we haven't seen them drop," she said.

The Shadow RBA is split on the future for the official cash rate.

Two members, HSBC Australia's chief economist Paul Bloxham and Eureka Report's Adam Carr, are tipping rate hikes within the year.

According to Mr Carr: "Things globallyaren't anywhere nears as bad as the Reserve Bank board had thought and so I think they'll be hard pressed tojustifyfurthercuts."

Mr Bloxham said there had been was more evidence of recovery in the non-mining parts of the economy. "This month brought further signs that already low interest rates are getting some traction: consumer sentiment bounced, the housing market improved and the Australian share market rose to a new four and a half year high."

However, the majority of the board five out of nine expect further rate cuts this year will be needed to ensure a smooth transition after the end of the mining investment boom.

View the original article here

Big Four tipped to start rates war

AN unprecedented out-of-cycle interest rate cut may still be on the cards, even if the Reserve Bank keeps the official cash rate on hold, as expected, today.

News Limited's shadow Reserve Bank has voted to keep the cash rate on ice today, but three members think at least one major bank will slash its standard variable rate by five basis points anyway.

Research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, Stephen Kirchner, is tipping a five-basis point cut by one of the Big Four will spark a discounting war.

"I think there is scope for further out-of-cycle cuts in at least some lending rates, if not the standard variable rate," Dr Kirchner said.

However, any out-of-cycle cut would be taken into account when the Reserve Bank next came to consider cuts.

"This just lessens the prospects for cuts in the official rate," he said.

Fellow shadow board member and Airport Economist Tim Harcourt also expects an out-of-cycle cut. "If the RBA leaves rates unchanged, I think at least one of the Big Four banks will try to get first-mover advantage and cut mortgage rates by five basis points or so," he said.

Managing director of Market Economics, Stephen Koukoulas, has also argued lower funding costs will open the door to voluntary cuts.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist Saul Eslake said that at the very least, home borrowers could expect to pocket any further rate cut in full.

In addition, "the banks appear to have been more willing to 'discount' their mortgage rates in order to capturebusiness in recent months," Mr Eslake said.

A respected banking analyst with brokerage CSLA, Brian Johnson, said the chances of an out-of-cycle cut this month were "low" given higher payouts on term deposits and a likely rise in short-term wholesale funding costs if it became apparent the Reserve's rate cutting cycle was over. "The most favourable dynamic right now is that the 90-day bank bill, which most bank funding is swapped to, is below the Reserve Bank's 3 per cent cash rate. That's extremely favourable now but it could reverse in a heart beat".

However, politics could come into play. "I think it's highly unlikely in an election year that you'll see net interest margins expand." So if funding costs began to ease significantly, out of cycle rate cuts could be on the cards. "If things do really improve, we should expect banks to pass that on to consumers."

A spokeswoman for loan comparison website Rate City, Michelle Hutchison, said an out-of-cycle interest rate cut was "more likely than not" and would come after four small lenders cut their rates voluntarily last week. "We have never seen variable home loan rates fall out of cycle. We have seen them increase but we haven't seen them drop," she said.

The Shadow RBA is split on the future for the official cash rate.

Two members, HSBC Australia's chief economist Paul Bloxham and Eureka Report's Adam Carr, are tipping rate hikes within the year.

According to Mr Carr: "Things globallyaren't anywhere nears as bad as the Reserve Bank board had thought and so I think they'll be hard pressed tojustifyfurthercuts."

Mr Bloxham said there had been was more evidence of recovery in the non-mining parts of the economy. "This month brought further signs that already low interest rates are getting some traction: consumer sentiment bounced, the housing market improved and the Australian share market rose to a new four and a half year high."

However, the majority of the board five out of nine expect further rate cuts this year will be needed to ensure a smooth transition after the end of the mining investment boom.

View the original article here