Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers deserves credit for the way he handled the Reserve Bank review and its aftermath. He commissioned a rigorous, independent inquiry into one of Australia’s cornerstone institutions, accepted its key recommendations, and then did the hard political work of steering the necessary legislation through parliament. It was governance done properly – consultative, evidence-based and forward-looking.

But one important piece of unfinished business remains. The Reserve Bank’s balance sheet, more than three years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, is still in negative equity. This balance sheet problem is a legacy of the pandemic-era bond-buying program and the Term Funding Facility (TFF). They were necessary and largely unavoidable policy responses to the crisis as it was unfolding.