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China’s new ambassador to Australia has said Beijing has no intention of interfering in the upcoming federal election.

Xiao Qian, who said last month the two countries should “meet each other halfway” but is yet to spell out any tangible steps Beijing may be willing to take, spoke briefly to reporters after an event at the Chinese embassy in Canberra today.

When asked about the upcoming election, he said:

We have a policy, it’s a policy of principle, that we never interfere with the domestic affairs of any country, and the election of this country is the domestic affair of Australia. We have no intention, no interest to get involved. We have no choice of this party or that party. But whoever is going to be the ruling party after the election, we are looking forward to a more positive relationship.

We’re ready to work with the new government to grasp this year, the 50th anniversary of the development of diplomatic relations, and to put our relationship back on the right track, back to the right direction, so that China and Australia can move forward to the benefit of our two countries and peoples.

Xiao arrived in Canberra in January after years of increasing tensions over a range of issues including trade and security concerns. Australia’s laws against foreign interference were a source of tension when they were introduced under the Turnbull government. The head of Asio recently said the security agency had foiled an alleged foreign interference plot.

In the past few weeks, Xiao has met with both Marise Payne and Penny Wong. Payne and Wong have expressed their openness to dialogue while saying Australia won’t take a backward step on matters of national interest and sovereignty.

There’s a bit more chatter about whether treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s budget next week will show real wages increasing faster than inflation in the near term.

If they do, presumably the Reserve Bank will lose patience faster and raise interest rates, taking off some of that benefit for those on variable-rate mortgages.

So it’s interesting to see another major bank actually cut its variable rate, with Westpac the latest of the big four to move.

Westpac’s lowest variable rate is now 2.09% for those with a 30% deposit – making it the lowest variable of the big four, according to RateCity.com.au, a market tracker. St George and Bank of Melbourne are offering 2.04% for borrowers with a 40% deposit.

This follows cuts to the basic variable rate by NAB on 9 March and ANZ on 8 February, the company said.

“It’s astonishing to see some fixed rates rise by over two percentage points in the last 12 months, when the cash rate hasn’t moved a muscle,” said Sally Tindall, RateCity.com.au’s research director:

Westpac and other banks are responding to rising costs of funding and expected RBA hikes. As a result, the majority of big four bank owner-occupier fixed rates now start with a ‘3’, some even a ‘4’.

Hence, the shift back towards variable-interest rate loans among borrowers does seem a tad brave at this point.

Markets often don’t get it right (if investors were all-knowing, there would be a lot less trading every day in the stock and other markets). Still, investors are betting the RBA will move as soon as June to lift the official interest rate:

And a big CPI figure for the March quarter – due to land from the ABS on 27 April – would even make a pre-election RBA rate rise a possibility.

Speaking of Blockade Australia, two protesters involved in the demonstrations at ports in Sydney will be “removed” from the country, after immigration minister Alex Hawke decided to revoke their visas.

Protesters have disrupted Port Botany for several days, blocking freight roads by suspending themselves from poles. Two of the men, reportedly German tourists, have now had their visas cancelled.

In a statement on Thursday morning, Hawke said:

Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visas held by two non-citizen protesters on good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.

Families going about their business, driving to school or work, do not deserve to be disrupted by the attention-seeking stunts of unlawful protesters.

Hawke said he’d asked the Border Force for more information on “any further potentially unlawful activity by temporary visa holders”.

The minister told 2GB radio there was “zero tolerance for temporary visa holders committing crimes in Australia”. Regarding the two Germans, Hawke said authorities were working on “their removal from Australia as soon as possible”.