WEBVTT - “A real smack in the face”: Did the RBA get it wrong?

0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:09.440
<v Speaker 1>I'm Nicole Johnston and you're listening to seven AM. It's

0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:12.959
<v Speaker 1>been a brutal week for Australians. Petrol prices and going

0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.880
<v Speaker 1>through the roof, and now the Reserve Bank has hyped

0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.759
<v Speaker 1>interest rates for the second time this year. Mortgages and

0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.320
<v Speaker 1>rents are about to become even more expensive. It was

0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.599
<v Speaker 1>a lineball decision from the RBA. Five members voted for

0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.400
<v Speaker 1>a quarter of a percentage jump while four voted against it.

0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.600
<v Speaker 1>So the official cash raid is now four point one percent.

0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.080
<v Speaker 1>But is the increase necessary today? Chief economist at the

0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.000
<v Speaker 1>Australia Institute, Greg Jericho on why he thinks the RBA

0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:55.760
<v Speaker 1>has got it wrong. It's Wednesday, March eighteen. Greg. What

0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.480
<v Speaker 1>did you think of the RBA Governor Michelle Bullock's reasoning

0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.560
<v Speaker 1>increasing the interest rates yet again?

0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:05.319
<v Speaker 2>I think it was pretty poor.

0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.920
<v Speaker 3>Actually, higher petrol prices will add to inflation, but they're

0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.640
<v Speaker 3>not the reason for today's decision. Inflation was already too high,

0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.400
<v Speaker 3>reflecting the fact that demand is outstripping supply. Higher fuel

0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.800
<v Speaker 3>costs will not slow demand enough on their own to

0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:21.360
<v Speaker 3>address this.

0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.760
<v Speaker 2>I think it really demonstrated a disconnect with what's going

0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.000
<v Speaker 2>on in the economy. Not just in Australia but the

0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:34.160
<v Speaker 2>rest of the world. This real sense that inflation is

0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:39.440
<v Speaker 2>somehow running hot, whereas what we're seeing is, yes, it's

0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.560
<v Speaker 2>higher than we'd like, but it's certainly not accelerating, not

0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:47.000
<v Speaker 2>going up. You know, they showed that actually in the

0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:51.080
<v Speaker 2>end of last year, consumption, household consumption spending was a

0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.960
<v Speaker 2>bit below what that expect. That didn't suggest that we're

0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.840
<v Speaker 2>out there all spending madly. Unit labor costs, which is

0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.400
<v Speaker 2>sort of the cost of labor was act down in

0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.840
<v Speaker 2>real terms, so it's not rising fast than inflation. So

0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:09.079
<v Speaker 2>that suggests that businesses aren't really struggling to get workers,

0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.880
<v Speaker 2>so they're having to raise wages and everything to trying

0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.399
<v Speaker 2>to track them. Wage growth itself is steady, inflation itself

0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.240
<v Speaker 2>is steady. All they were able to really point to was, oh,

0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.320
<v Speaker 2>business investment was up, and it's like, well, there was

0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:27.600
<v Speaker 2>a sort of a big investment in batteries for renewable

0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.760
<v Speaker 2>and data centers, and it's like, really, that's what we're

0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:39.560
<v Speaker 2>saying has caused excess demand and increasing inflationary pressures in Australia.

0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.400
<v Speaker 2>I thought, come on, So I thought that was pretty

0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.000
<v Speaker 2>poorly argued. And also her suggestion and the board suggestion

0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.040
<v Speaker 2>that the oil price rises coming out of the war

0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.560
<v Speaker 2>with Iran are raising petrol prices and are going to

0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.040
<v Speaker 2>raise inflation over the coming months, so they needed to

0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:03.120
<v Speaker 2>get on and do something about it. Now, again, I

0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.880
<v Speaker 2>think was a pretty poor decision, given we know all

0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.079
<v Speaker 2>of those impacts are due to this massive supply shock

0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.320
<v Speaker 2>of the Iran war. There's nothing the Reserve Bank can

0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:16.799
<v Speaker 2>do about that. Raising the cash rate of four point

0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:18.760
<v Speaker 2>one percent isn't going to open up the straight up

0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:24.560
<v Speaker 2>on OZ and all it did was double the pain

0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.799
<v Speaker 2>for people who are already having to pay more for petrol,

0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.239
<v Speaker 2>which is something you can't really do without. So no,

0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.400
<v Speaker 2>wasn't overly impressed with her reasoning or the decision.

0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.680
<v Speaker 3>This hit with the fuel prices and this additional rise

0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.360
<v Speaker 3>in mortgage rates is going to be hard for some people.

0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.760
<v Speaker 3>I do understand that, but it'll be much worse if

0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:50.040
<v Speaker 3>inflation gets built into the fibers and then we will

0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:51.720
<v Speaker 3>see the cost of everything going up.

0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.560
<v Speaker 1>So why do you think they went for this tool

0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.520
<v Speaker 1>at the end of the day, Because they clearly think

0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.840
<v Speaker 1>they're doing something to help the economy.

0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.400
<v Speaker 2>Well, as people often say about the Reserve Bank. When

0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.480
<v Speaker 2>all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a

0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.560
<v Speaker 2>nail and the only tool they really have interest rates.

0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.040
<v Speaker 2>And so if inflation is higher than they'd like, they

0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.760
<v Speaker 2>think they must raise interest rates. You know, it seemed

0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.480
<v Speaker 2>like the RBA was just determined to raise rates, that

0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.680
<v Speaker 2>they really want to show that, oh, we're big and

0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.800
<v Speaker 2>tough and we're acting against inflation. And to me, it

0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.880
<v Speaker 2>feels a bit like they are very sensitive to the

0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.320
<v Speaker 2>criticism from some that back in twenty twenty two they

0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.800
<v Speaker 2>didn't raise rates fast enough, that they shouldn't have waited

0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.240
<v Speaker 2>till May of twenty twenty two when they did raise rates,

0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.520
<v Speaker 2>and so that they're kind of reacting to that, Whereas

0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.760
<v Speaker 2>I think most economists, really, if you were to sort

0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.480
<v Speaker 2>of hold a gun to their head, would say, yeah,

0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.920
<v Speaker 2>it feels like there's a few things happening that are

0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.039
<v Speaker 2>creating a lot of uncertainty At the moment. We don't

0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.320
<v Speaker 2>know what petrol prices are going to do. We don't

0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.520
<v Speaker 2>know the impact that's going to have on house sold spending,

0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.640
<v Speaker 2>the economy over the next few weeks. It seems like

0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.440
<v Speaker 2>this war is going to keep going on. Why don't

0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.359
<v Speaker 2>we wait six weeks and see what the situation is

0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:20.800
<v Speaker 2>in May.

0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.120
<v Speaker 4>This is obviously not the decision that lots of Australians

0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.400
<v Speaker 4>were hoping for. It's not a surprising decision, but that

0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.400
<v Speaker 4>doesn't make it any easier for millions of Australians.

0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:35.680
<v Speaker 3>With a mortgage.

0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.120
<v Speaker 1>So, Greg, how is all of this really going to

0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.520
<v Speaker 1>hit people, especially especially given that people were finally getting

0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:46.520
<v Speaker 1>a break from these interest rate rises after two years

0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.880
<v Speaker 1>of solid increases that we had after COVID.

0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.880
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, this is the thing that the Reserve

0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.120
<v Speaker 2>Bank is really pointing to the end of last year saying,

0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:00.240
<v Speaker 2>oh things were you know, looking up or that's where

0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.720
<v Speaker 2>all the sort of excess demand, as they say, was,

0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.239
<v Speaker 2>well that was before they raised rates in February, and

0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.200
<v Speaker 2>that really, I think came as a shock to people.

0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.280
<v Speaker 2>People who, unlike me, don't spend every day looking at

0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.120
<v Speaker 2>what the Reserve Bank is saying. They would have been thinking, oh,

0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.680
<v Speaker 2>hang on, I thought I thought we would finish with

0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.760
<v Speaker 2>this and then to get another one on top of

0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.320
<v Speaker 2>that is a real kind of smack in the face.

0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:30.040
<v Speaker 2>And coupled with the increase in petrol prices which has

0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.320
<v Speaker 2>been quite stunning of late, you know, we're really seeing,

0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.200
<v Speaker 2>you know, thirty cents and Leader forty cents and Leader

0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.320
<v Speaker 2>kind of increases, sort of going from a dollar eighty

0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.320
<v Speaker 2>to two twenty and above, and the sense that this

0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.640
<v Speaker 2>is going to be around for a while. It's this

0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:51.280
<v Speaker 2>sense of oh great, I've been smashed both ways through

0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.520
<v Speaker 2>nothing that any workers have done. It's not because workers

0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.239
<v Speaker 2>have all been getting great pay rises. It's not because

0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.279
<v Speaker 2>we've we've got these massive big tax cuts, or the

0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.560
<v Speaker 2>government's handed out heaps of money to us somehow and

0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.480
<v Speaker 2>we're all spending it madly. It's just, you know, we

0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:12.720
<v Speaker 2>were just carrying on and then suddenly the Reserve bankers decide, oh,

0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.800
<v Speaker 2>hang on, we really would like a few more of

0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.920
<v Speaker 2>you to be unemployed. And really that's what it comes

0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:24.160
<v Speaker 2>down to. So it really is this worrying thing for

0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.520
<v Speaker 2>me that the Reserve Bank remains utterly wedded to this

0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.880
<v Speaker 2>view that there needs to be higher unemployment. They would

0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.600
<v Speaker 2>love unemployment to be around four and a half percent,

0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.880
<v Speaker 2>if not a little bit higher, just to be safe.

0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:43.120
<v Speaker 2>They have shown a complete unwillingness to be able to

0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:48.200
<v Speaker 2>cope with unemployment around four percent or even lower. It's

0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:52.520
<v Speaker 2>a pretty sad state of affairs, and especially in a

0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.960
<v Speaker 2>period of such a massive uncertainty, because we've got mad

0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.800
<v Speaker 2>men in the White House, no idea what the heck's

0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.040
<v Speaker 2>going to be happening with Iran, and to be suggesting

0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.360
<v Speaker 2>that we shouldn't have at least waited six weeks to

0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.640
<v Speaker 2>find out, to me, seems a pretty poor judgment on

0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:12.200
<v Speaker 2>the Reserve Bank's.

0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:22.320
<v Speaker 1>Behalf coming up. What's the chance of a recession? Greg?

0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:27.520
<v Speaker 1>We are seeing these huge increases in oil, gas, fertilizer

0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.680
<v Speaker 1>prices that could start flowing through to the rest of

0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:35.040
<v Speaker 1>the economy, especially our food prices. So how bad do

0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.400
<v Speaker 1>you think that inflation could get from here?

0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.240
<v Speaker 2>Well, one of the problems is that actually the costs

0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.640
<v Speaker 2>of things like fertilizer and even fuel costs are fairly

0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.080
<v Speaker 2>overstated by most people, and we see this in the

0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.440
<v Speaker 2>media all the time. The real worry is that we're

0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.640
<v Speaker 2>going to see like we saw in twenty twenty two,

0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.520
<v Speaker 2>where off the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,

0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.160
<v Speaker 2>where we saw massive spikes in prices and again of

0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:05.440
<v Speaker 2>things like fertilizer. The companies looked around and saw all

0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.840
<v Speaker 2>these talk about inflation and going, well, we can raise

0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.840
<v Speaker 2>prices and everyone will just think, oh, well, that's inflation,

0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.520
<v Speaker 2>you know, and by and large it won't be. It'll

0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.640
<v Speaker 2>be just they've seen an opportunity to raise prices, and

0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.560
<v Speaker 2>that's we already were starting to see some of that

0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.480
<v Speaker 2>at the end of last year. What we were seeing

0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.960
<v Speaker 2>at the end of last year that was causing the

0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.520
<v Speaker 2>bit of the jump in inflation that we saw was

0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.000
<v Speaker 2>an increase in profit margins. So that's my worry. I

0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:40.679
<v Speaker 2>don't think we're going to see massive spikes, but certainly

0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.920
<v Speaker 2>this kind of increase in oil prices going to lead

0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.600
<v Speaker 2>to inflation increase. But again it's a case of is

0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.080
<v Speaker 2>that an inflation that the Reserve Bank can do anything about.

0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.760
<v Speaker 2>They can't lower the price of oil, they can't lower

0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.480
<v Speaker 2>the price well priced of gas, even a fertilizer. What

0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:03.560
<v Speaker 2>we could do, given we're one of the biggest exporters

0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.160
<v Speaker 2>of LNG in the world, is we could be looking

0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.720
<v Speaker 2>at taxing our gas exports. Who are going to be

0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.120
<v Speaker 2>making an absolute motza because one thing people might have

0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.400
<v Speaker 2>realized over the past couple of weeks is that when

0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.439
<v Speaker 2>they're watching the news or hearing about things, is oh,

0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:21.880
<v Speaker 2>the share prices taken a hit, you know, the stock

0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.280
<v Speaker 2>market's gone down. Well, I can tell you two companies

0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.720
<v Speaker 2>whose prices on the stock may have not gone down

0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.600
<v Speaker 2>are Santos and Woodside. Why because massive gas exporters, and

0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.800
<v Speaker 2>everyone knows they're going to make a motza out of this.

0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.480
<v Speaker 2>So you know, if we were taxing gas like we

0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:43.160
<v Speaker 2>should be, we might actually be seeing stories about how

0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.400
<v Speaker 2>actually this war, the increase in all prices is going

0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.480
<v Speaker 2>to lead to a big increase in tax revenue which

0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.880
<v Speaker 2>the government could use to actually help us out. And

0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.920
<v Speaker 2>instead it's all just going to go to profits for companies,

0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.439
<v Speaker 2>and most of those profits are going overseas.

0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.679
<v Speaker 1>So Greg given this decision and the statement from the

0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.800
<v Speaker 1>Reserve Bank, do you think that we should all be

0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.880
<v Speaker 1>preparing possibly for even more interest rate increases in the future.

0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.760
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Unfortunately, I think another one is more likely than not,

0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.720
<v Speaker 2>whether it comes in May or it comes later. They

0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.400
<v Speaker 2>might decide, given they've done two in a road, that

0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.960
<v Speaker 2>it's time to step back and wait, especially because the

0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.760
<v Speaker 2>next meeting comes the week before the budget, so they

0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.720
<v Speaker 2>might decide let's wait and see what comes out in

0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.720
<v Speaker 2>the budget. But again, all of this just puts pressure

0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.839
<v Speaker 2>on the government now to cut back on spending because

0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.840
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't want to be seen to fueling inflation. And

0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.240
<v Speaker 2>it's like, well, is inflation being fueled by excess demand

0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.920
<v Speaker 2>or is it being fueled by war in Iran? Is

0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:54.040
<v Speaker 2>it been fueled by increased profits? And if that's the case,

0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.800
<v Speaker 2>then you know the Reserve Bank needs to look elsewhere

0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.760
<v Speaker 2>to find some blame rather than you and me and

0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.640
<v Speaker 2>everyone else who either has a mortgage or would like

0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.120
<v Speaker 2>to have a mortgage. And unfortunately, it seems that they

0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.439
<v Speaker 2>really like raising interest rates, they really like looking tough

0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.960
<v Speaker 2>on inflation, regardless of the causes, and so that has

0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.480
<v Speaker 2>me worried that there probably is at least one more,

0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.080
<v Speaker 2>if not two, still to come.

0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.439
<v Speaker 1>And Greg, finally we heard the RBA governor mentioned the

0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:25.760
<v Speaker 1>dreaded word recession.

0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.920
<v Speaker 3>We don't want to see a recession or a large

0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.520
<v Speaker 3>rise in unemployment if we can avoid it. That's part

0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:33.560
<v Speaker 3>of our dual mandates.

0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.439
<v Speaker 1>So could the impact of the wall be so serious?

0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.680
<v Speaker 1>Do you think that it leads to a recession in

0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.040
<v Speaker 1>Australia or even globally.

0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, she was pretty, in my view, fairly cavalier about that.

0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.520
<v Speaker 3>We don't want to have a recession, but if it's

0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.000
<v Speaker 3>hard to get inflation down, then you know we're going

0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:53.160
<v Speaker 3>to have to deal with that.

0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:59.560
<v Speaker 2>It's like, we do not need a recession to get

0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.079
<v Speaker 2>inflation blow three percent. My god, inflation's at three point

0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:07.520
<v Speaker 2>eight percent. That's not out of control. It's a bit

0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.520
<v Speaker 2>higher than their target. Anyone thinking that we need the

0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.200
<v Speaker 2>economy to slow down so that we can win the

0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:20.360
<v Speaker 2>war on inflation is quite deluded, And I would also suggest,

0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:25.360
<v Speaker 2>in a very secure and well paying job, I really

0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.800
<v Speaker 2>have no truck with economists who think that higher unemployment

0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:33.080
<v Speaker 2>is a nice and easy payoff for lower inflation. And

0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:38.120
<v Speaker 2>recessions are horrific things. The Reserve Bank should be doing

0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.360
<v Speaker 2>all it can to avoid one not thinking, oh, well,

0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.520
<v Speaker 2>if that's the price we have to get of getting

0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.960
<v Speaker 2>inflation under three percent, then that's the price we have

0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.960
<v Speaker 2>to pay. That's just a terrible mindset, and I really

0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.840
<v Speaker 2>hope it doesn't come to that. But again, that's why

0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.200
<v Speaker 2>I would have held off in raising rates this time

0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.920
<v Speaker 2>and waited six weeks to find out what's going on.

0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:05.040
<v Speaker 2>How is this impacting the global economy, because to be honest,

0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.560
<v Speaker 2>no one knows. There's no certainty with Donald Trump, and

0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.400
<v Speaker 2>yet the Reserve Bank is acting like.

0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:17.320
<v Speaker 1>There is help, Greg, Thanks for joining us.

0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:25.040
<v Speaker 2>No problems, great to chat help.

0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.200
<v Speaker 1>Also in the news, the a Triple C has put

0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.000
<v Speaker 1>fuel companies on notice, warning them against misleading and anti

0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.720
<v Speaker 1>competitive conduct. The watchdog says it will closely monitor the

0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.800
<v Speaker 1>fuel market for price gouging during the war in the

0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Middle East. Major fuel companies, wholesalers and retailers have been

0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.960
<v Speaker 1>asked to explain recent price hikes, which often moved more

0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.800
<v Speaker 1>quickly than expected after the worldwide increase in oil prices

0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 1>and to possible Category three cyclone is making its way

0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:06.200
<v Speaker 1>towards Queensland. Meteorologists a warning it could deliver winds of

0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.920
<v Speaker 1>up to one hundred and fifty five kilometers an hour.

0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.880
<v Speaker 1>It's expected to hit far north Queensland between Lockhart River

0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.080
<v Speaker 1>and Port Douglas on Thursday. There's also a warning for

0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:20.000
<v Speaker 1>heavy rain and flash flooding. I'm Nicole Johnston. This is

0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:21.880
<v Speaker 1>seven am. Thanks for listening.