It's wonderful to have you back. And I want to start on the independent
Reserve Bank of Australia because it seems like it's due any time now.
It could include things like more meetings every year or fewer, I should
say, at press conference after every meeting.
Bottom line, are you are you close and you set a date?
All right. Are you ready?
You made up your mind. Probably looking to release it really
soon, hopefully in the next week or two. We've had we've received the report from
a really terrific panel. They've made some, I think, some very
wise recommendations. I will confer with my cabinet
colleagues. I'll also confer with the opposition and
with the crossbench in the parliament to try and get an element of bipartisanship
around the Reserve Bank review. I think it's a good opportunity for
Australia and for its central bank to see what we can do better.
And so that's the spirit with which I'll release it.
So is this more than tweaks? Is there some kind of shakeup here?
We're going to be seeing soon? Well, I think in order for it to be
worthwhile, the recommendations need to be robust and meaningful.
And they are. And so when I release it, whether it's
in the next week or two, certainly before the budget on May 9, people will
see the thought that's gone into it. And really the opportunity, you know, to
kind of second guess all of the decisions that have been taken in the
recent past. But to work, try and work out if we've
got the right objectives and processes and structures to make it really
important that you want to check in with you change.
You want to have price stability in an economy that grows with you change.
Obviously, inflation targeting is a really important role.
And I wouldn't expect there to be substantial changes there, nor would I
expect that to be a winding back of the independence of the Reserve Bank, which
is a key feature of our central bank in Australia.
But there are other meaningful changes which will be proposed.
And I'll look forward to perhaps coming back on the program and talking about
them when they're out in the wild. We'll be glad to have you back.
Governor Lowe has said that he would like another term.
Have you made up your mind yet? We've said both privately and publicly
that in the normal course of events, an appointment which comes up in September
would be considered closer to the middle of the year.
We also want to get this Reserve Bank review out there and considered and
discussed and talked about and consulted on because that's an important part of
the future of the bank as well. In the past, you've expressed publicly
support for the coming yellow and the policies we've taken on inflation and
more when you keep a low. Well, I've said before and I say again,
I've got a really terrific working relationship with Phil Low.
And that's really important. But I also cherish the importance of the
central city of the independence of the Central Bank of Australia as well.
We take these decisions about appointments in the usual methodical way
in the normal course of events that will happen towards the middle of the year.
And that's what people will say. The RBA softened its stance a bit.
And I think another question for you, because you've been supportive of the
inflation fight. Is this the correct way to get to not
get into sticky inflation that you can't get down?
Well, two things about that. I mean, festival in cherishing the
independence of the bank. It means not preempting or second
guessing the decisions that they take. I've got my own job to do.
But certainly in Australia, even as inflation is moderating, it's still more
persistent than we would like. We'll be higher than we'd lock for,
longer than we would like. And so whether it's the work of the
independent Reserve Bank or the work that I do in the budget with my
colleagues, what we need to do is make sure that we are providing some cost of
living relief in a way that doesn't add to inflation to make the problem worse.
We lay the foundations for future growth and we make our economy and our budget
more resilient to global economic shocks off the ground we're talking about here.
What did you learn here? What have you heard?
Conversations. Janet Yellen and others, a lot going on.
More in Ukraine, cells going on. You know, China's reopening.
How how this inform your view of the possibilities and the risks for
Australia's economy. First of festival, a Ukrainian victory
couldn't come soon enough for the global economy.
I mean, that is the source. The Russian invasion is the source of so
much human suffering and economic volatility.
And so good economic policy is an end to the war.
First and foremost. But beyond that, the global economy is a
precarious place right now. And it's characterised by uncertainty
and volatility. And we take that very seriously, even as
inflation moderates. We've seen spot fires in the banking
system which have been put out by the authorities.
And so, so much of what we're talking about here is how do we align our
domestic agendas and our budgets and our regulatory settings to be carefully
calibrated to these difficult global economic conditions.
IMF slightly downgraded its global forecast, but said there are very big
risks from the global banking crisis or whatever you want to call it.
That seems to stabilized. Is this a concern?
Tighter lending conditions, not sleeping your days, but certainly aberrations to
us. You go first of all, as I think you're
acknowledging, that Australian banks are very well capitalised, very well
regulated and very well placed to deal with this volatility.
But obviously around the world, we need to make sure that whether it's
supervision, whether it's stress testing, that it takes into account
developments since the global financial crisis, particularly when it comes to
non banks. And also when it comes to the speed of
potential bank runs, it's my contribution here.
Here has really been the words my colleagues took for the full
implementation of Basel 3. But also to say where the speed of these
developments is an additional concern so that we can get quicker and smarter when
it comes to dealing with these problems. Well, as you said, you're going to have
that RBA review decision soon. He said before the budget on May 9.
Before the budget. Yeah.
So I got really ugly in the next couple of weeks, but certainly before the
budget on May 9. And you're going to call back and let us
know. See hasn't get back and announce it
right here on live television. I'll do my best.
OK. Jeff Tom Keene, the cashier.
Jihye Lee.