Bill Kelty praises experience of new RBA members

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty praises appointment of Iain Ross and Elana Rubin to the RBA board, while calling some recent bank decisions ‘absolutely crazy’.

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty. Picture: Aaron Francis

Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty has praised the appointment of ex-Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross and corporate director Elana Rubin to the Reserve Bank board, while labelling some recent bank decisions “absolutely crazy” and “unbelievable stupidity”.

Mr Kelty, the last unionist to serve on the Reserve Bank board, worked with Dr Ross and Ms Rubin at the ACTU in the 1990s.

Both started at the ACTU specialising in occupational health and safety. Mr Kelty on Thursday praised their understanding of the economy and the labour market.

In January, 1991, Mr Kelty, Dr Ross, Paul Keating and his then chief of staff Don Russell lunched at India House in Melbourne’s Swanston St where they mapped out the proposed framework for compulsory superannuation.

“It was the most significant lunch in Australia’s industrial relations history,” Mr Kelty said, adding he still has the tandoori-stained table mat setting out their handwritten agreement.

Ms Rubin, who went on to become chair of Australian Super and AfterPay, has credited Mr Kelty with helping her make her most important career decision.

At Mr Kelty’s urging, Ms Rubin pursued a course in applied finance and investment instead of her preference for postgraduate study in labour law. The decision allowed her to get into superannuation around the start of industry super in the early 1990s.

Mr Kelty said Dr Ross was brilliant and probably “the most significant industrial practitioner in Australia’s history”.

“History will judge him as more important than Henry Bourne Higgins (the author of the 1907 Harvester “living wage” decision that became the basis for the national minimum wage system).

“Both of them (Ross and Rubin) have significant knowledge of the labour market. They understand how the economy works. They also understand people and what it means to go to work and what it means to raise a family,” Mr Kelty said.

“They’ve actually got a very well-balanced view of life. They do understand the pressures of work and the pressures of society.”

Mr Kelty said the current Reserve Bank board had made mistakes. “It held rates down too low for too long. The second mistake it made was to become a financial planner and start telling people there would be no rate rises until 2024,” he said “That was crazy. That was absolutely crazy. It was just unbelievable stupidity. But it was a mistake and we all make mistakes. Other than those two fundamental mistakes, the ­essential institution has worked.”

He said the bank made mistakes when he served on the board from 1987 to 1996. He quit two days after John Howard was elected prime minister.

Jim Chalmers said Dr Ross and Ms Rubin would serve as part-time members for a five-year term.

“Dr Ross has a deep understanding of labour markets and economics,” the Treasurer said.

“He has served as a former president of the Fair Work Commission, and judge of the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Victoria. His career experience includes vice-president of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, partner in the workplace relations practice group at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, and assistant secretary of the ACTU.

“Ms Rubin has over 20 years’ experience as a non-executive company director across diverse sectors of the Australian economy, including roles in the financial services, insurance, infrastructure, professional services, and not-for-profit sectors. She brings a small business perspective as chair of the Australian Business Growth Fund and was previously chair of Afterpay and AustralianSuper.”