This Month
Politicians are the problem behind the cost-of-living squeeze
Weak business investment and real wage growth is a design feature of the Albanese Labor’s care economy model that the Dutton Coalition is failing to challenge.
March
Chalmers insists he is ‘very respectful’ of Bullock
The treasurer says “everybody knows how respectful I am” of the RBA governor, denying a report in AFR Magazine that he pressured her over the bank’s messaging on government spending.
February
Chalmers has ‘damaged’ RBA independence
Jim Chalmers’ pressure on Reserve Bank governors Michele Bullock and Philip Lowe is “highly reprehensible” and has damaged the independence of the RBA, Roger Corbett and Angus Taylor say.
Bullock concedes RBA too slow to raise rates against inflation
The Reserve Bank governor said one of the reasons the board cut the cash rate this week was because it did not want to be too late to act again.
Drum beats and politics: how RBA rate calls are really made
The Reserve Bank board has always done what it believes is right. But former senior officials say it hasn’t stopped successive governments from trying to get their way.
November 2024
The Ivy to host Barrenjoey banker bash
The upmarket nightclub will play host to the investment bank’s staff Christmas bash next month.
October 2024
From Trump to Khuda: secrets of Australia’s most-connected director
Mark Barnaba has an uncanny ability to forge close personal relationships that turn into long-term and lucrative business opportunities.
Westpac’s Luci Ellis shades her old RBA chums
The ex RBA chief economist isn’t afraid of taking digs at her former workplace.
RBA walks the line on inflation and jobs
The RBA has a dual mandate to contain inflation while also shielding jobs. The Coalition should reconsider its veto of a separate policymaking board to help it do that.
Market’s war footing | Virgin v Qantas fight | RBA’s hush-hush problem
This week, James Thomson and editor-in-chief James Chessell dig into what the Middle East conflict means for markets, examine Virgin’s deal with Qatar, and ask whether the RBA should be meeting with banks and investors behind closed doors.
RBA should spell out rules on private meetings with market movers
The holding of confidential meetings can backfire when some people think that others are getting advantaged access to the central bank’s thinking.
Barrenjoey expunges Philip Lowe’s original sin
The start-up bank’s taking the former RBA governor back to where the relationship began.
RBA gives RBC Capital Markets private briefing, bars bank after leak
The incident is the second off-the-record discussion between the central bank and traders that has been made public. It was held after a February rate decision.
September 2024
Philip Lowe is Barrenjoey’s new inside man
The former RBA governor has joined the board of the bank he once lashed out at, putting them in a penalty box.
Ex-RBA governor Lowe joins Barrenjoey board
In February 2023 Philip Lowe found himself in hot water after accepting a lunch invite from Barrenjoey. This week he joined the start-up investment bank’s board.
Chalmers dumps his fiscal profligacy onto the RBA
The government has its foot on the spending pedal while the Reserve Bank tries standing on the brakes. There is no sign of the co-ordination that has been called for.
Chalmers must back the central bank he shaped
The RBA cannot fix inflation as fast as a now big-spending government wants. But the treasurer must be wary of damage to the central bank’s credibility.
August 2024
Gabby RBA spills its press flacks
If the intention is for Reserve Bank figures to keep giving interesting speeches, its figureheads are going to need serious PR support.
Stop telling us what to do with interest rates: RBA deputy
Economists and politicians have accused the Reserve Bank of hypocrisy after deputy governor Andrew Hauser labelled economic commentators overconfident “false prophets”.
RBA returns serve on inflation
The RBA’s take down of government spending is reverberating loudly in Canberra and can only undermine Labor’s key argument that its fiscal policy complements monetary policy.