1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,600
Speaker 1: To tell you what I like to think. In fact,

2
00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,160
Speaker 1: we should all thank Kelly Echold, sometime participant on the

3
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,360
Speaker 1: show most of the time economists at Westpac, for as

4
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,399
Speaker 1: thinking around the future of the Reserve Bank. As I've

5
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:11,960
Speaker 1: said many many times, if one good thing came out

6
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,360
Speaker 1: of COVID, it put the Reserve Bank its role and

7
00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,799
Speaker 1: influence front and center for many more of us that

8
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,560
Speaker 1: may never really have paid attention to its workings and

9
00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,080
Speaker 1: its ability to shape every day aspects of our lives.

10
00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,599
Speaker 1: Ekold suggests the new governor put the inflation target a

11
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,200
Speaker 1: little bit higher than the one point three percent. Historically

12
00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:29,800
Speaker 1: we sit at about two and a half percent, so

13
00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,560
Speaker 1: chasing less than that can have a lot of effects.

14
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,839
Speaker 1: You may or may not want do. Remember, some inflation's good.

15
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 1: You actually want inflation, You just don't want the amount

16
00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:39,919
Speaker 1: we've had, and you want it produced from growth, not

17
00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,560
Speaker 1: just the cost plus accounting from councils and power companies.

18
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 1: More importantly for me is the public accountability he speaks of.

19
00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,240
Speaker 1: The quickly or debarcle shows you what can go on

20
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,400
Speaker 1: if public disclosure is not as fulsome as it could be.

21
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:57,040
Speaker 1: Echold wants the Monetary Committee vote made public good idea,

22
00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,840
Speaker 1: so it should be. It's not often this is a divergence.

23
00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,000
Speaker 1: There has been lately. In fact, in the last statement

24
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,760
Speaker 1: and involved the vote of four to two. They've never

25
00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,560
Speaker 1: had that happen before four to two. So why don't

26
00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:08,279
Speaker 1: we know who they were and what they said? Well,

27
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,720
Speaker 1: the rules as they stand mean a person on the

28
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 1: committee can indeed out themselves. But you will notice from

29
00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,480
Speaker 1: last time no one did. Why not next time? A

30
00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: press conference should be held after each meeting, not just

31
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,520
Speaker 1: the ones that produce a cash rat call good idea.

32
00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: I cannot and I know I'm a wonk, but I

33
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,280
Speaker 1: cannot press enough the value of watching these things live,

34
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,199
Speaker 1: not just the Reserve Bank, but politicians who these days,

35
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,959
Speaker 1: thanks to digital coverage of places like The Herald, run

36
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,880
Speaker 1: them in full routine them I mean Peter's over the

37
00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,880
Speaker 1: weekend spoke for an excess of an hour. It was

38
00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,479
Speaker 1: an interesting watch. The irony of that is you would

39
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: be amazed what you learn, as opposed to what you

40
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,319
Speaker 1: may or may not learn from a news bullet and

41
00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,800
Speaker 1: edited and often curtailed to a point of nonsense later

42
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 1: in the day. The best example on an ongame basis

43
00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,640
Speaker 1: is the Prime ministerial press conference on a Monday after

44
00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,880
Speaker 1: cabinet yesterday was a good example, went for about forty

45
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,440
Speaker 1: five to fifty minutes. It was interesting. So more press

46
00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,760
Speaker 1: is more transparency, which is more detail, more sunlike, more

47
00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,320
Speaker 1: and position, more knowledge. What possibly could the Reserve Bank

48
00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,480
Speaker 1: argue is wrong with that? For more from the mic

49
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks it' B from

50
00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,120
Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.