Welcome to Need to Know this Friday, April 21. Here are some of this morning’s headlines:
– Expert RBA board to shake up rates debate, ‘test’ Lowe: A revamped Reserve Bank board will be expected to robustly challenge Philip Lowe and future governors, as part of sweeping reforms designed to improve decisions and avoid mistakes, such as the bank’s failed guidance that interest rates would not rise until 2024.
– The subtle change in how the RBA must manage inflation: The Reserve Bank will be expected to publicly discuss in more detail its goals for the labour market, via a narrower dual mandate focusing on full employment and stable inflation.
– RBA’s rate-setting board to move beyond inexpert ‘pub test’: The failure of the Reserve Bank board to vote against a single recommendation of the bank’s executive once in the past decade or to challenge emergency pandemic measures was used to justify the creation of separate governance and monetary policy panels for the central bank.
– Iain Ross better than a union rep on RBA board, ACTU says: Unions say the appointment of former Fair Work Commission president, judge and ACTU assistant secretary Iain Ross to the board of the Reserve Bank was a better choice than an actual trade union representative.
– RBA told to communicate better but Lowe also wary of too much ‘noise’: The Reserve Bank will hold press conferences following every interest rate decision and members of the new monetary policy board will be encouraged to speak in public forums as part of a communications shake-up.