Brutal moment RBA boss is asked if he will resign after pushing through five rate rises despite telling Australia there would be none – and claims he gets letters THANKING him for the hikes
- Network Ten national affairs editor Hugh Riminton asked banker about his future
- He noted the Greens and Nationals senator Matt Canavan wanted him to resign
- Dr Lowe rebuffed call to quit and claimed people thanked him for raising rates
- He also denied promising last year he would keep cash rate on hold until 2024
Australia’s most powerful banker was brutally asked if he would resign for raising interest rates five times despite vowing there would be no increase before 2024.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe on Thursday faced an uncomfortable question from Network Ten’s national affairs editor Hugh Riminton, asking if he would quit, noting how he was disliked by both the hard-left Greens and right-wing Nationals senator Matt Canavan.
‘You’ve achieved the unthinkable – you’ve managed to get the Queensland conservative Matt Canavan on a unity ticket with the Greens,’ Riminton said.
‘Both this week have called for you to be sacked.
‘What do you say to people who think that your resignation would help matters?’
Dr Lowe rebuffed the call to quit.
‘I can assure you I have no plans to resign,’ he told the Anika Foundation lunch.
Australia’s most powerful banker was brutally asked if he would resign for raising interest rates five times despite vowing there would be no increase before 2024. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe (pictured) faced an uncomfortable question from Network Ten’s national affairs editor Hugh Riminton, asking if he would quit, noting how he was disliked by both hard Greens right-wing Nationals backbencher Matt Canavan
Bizarrely, Dr Lowe told the forum he had praise from people for putting up interest rates, which have this year risen at the fastest pace since 1994, after he was asked about inequality on RU OK Day.
‘It might come as a surprise to you that some people write to me saying, “Thank you for the higher interest rates”,’ he said.
‘Most people with mortgages don’t like higher interest rates – it puts pressure on their budgets.’
Dr Lowe also disputed a suggestion he had last year promised to keep interest rates on hold at a record-low of 0.1 per cent until 2024 ‘at the earliest’.
The Reserve Bank boss clashed with Sky News business reporter Edward Boyd, who noted the cash rate had now risen by 2.25 percentage points since May and asked if Australians should prepare for a 3.5 per cent cash rate.
‘Not sure whether you were listening to my answer to the previous question,’ Dr Lowe said, evoking laughter.
‘I don’t like doing this but can I correct you?
‘Because I did not promise that interest rates would go up.
‘I know many people interpret my statements as saying that but if you look back carefully, I never said that.
‘What we said was we thought the pandemic was going to have long-lasting, disruptive effects on the economy that would keep inflation low, that would keep unemployment high for years.’
But as recently as October 2021, Dr Lowe suggested interest rates would stay on hold until 2024.
‘It will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2 to 3 per cent target range,’ he said then.
‘The central scenario for the economy is that this condition will not be met before 2024.’
In June 2021, during the month Sydney went into a long lockdown, Dr Lowe said the cash rate would not increase until inflation was comfortably within the two to three per cent target.
‘This is unlikely to be until 2024 at the earliest,’ he said.
Borrowers in May, June, July, August and now September – following the latest 0.5 percentage point increase – have copped 2.25 percentage points worth of rate rises – the steepest pace of increase since 1994.
The latest rise on Tuesday
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