00:00The Reserve Bank wants to get inflation down, and it's been using the hammer.
00:08Monetary policy is a very blunt tool.
00:11But after new data this week showed inflation heading back up, despite 13 interest rate
00:15rises, concerns grew for people with mortgages that rates will lift again.
00:21The central bank wants the growth in prices to stabilise between 2 and 3% a year, but
00:27The Consumer Price Index and the RBA's preferred measure of trimmed mean inflation are still
00:32far above that, and trending up.
00:35Enter a deputy governor newly arrived from the Bank of England, telling Australians to
00:40keep calm and carry on.
00:43It would be a bad mistake to set policy on the basis of one number, and we don't intend
00:47to do that.
00:49The deputy governor says the RBA understands the impact on household budgets.
00:54We have a wide variety of ways of getting non-technical, spreadsheet-y, DSG model kind
01:01of information in to complement the pointy-headed stuff.
01:05Tax cuts from July 1st will put more money in people's pockets, but the Treasurer isn't
01:11worried.
01:12When it comes to energy bill relief and cheaper medicines and Commonwealth rent assistance,
01:17these are designed to put downward pressure, not upward pressure, on prices.
01:21The Treasurer also sure his scrutiny of the banks won't lessen competition, ANZ winning
01:26a long battle to buy Queensland's Suncor.
01:29Our competition watchdog opposed the $5 billion deal, but lost in court.
01:34We're always against the amalgamation, especially making the big four even bigger.
01:41There can't be any job losses or branch closures for three years.
01:46As the cost-of-living crisis continues, most economists are tipping a dip in rates until
01:51well into next year.
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