RBA Act amendments set to land this month

Offshore candidates in the running for RBA Deputy Governor

Tom McIlroy had a story this week saying that a bill to amend the Reserve Bank Act will be introduced before the end of the month. Treasurer Chalmers is also said to be close to announcing the appointment of a new Deputy Governor, with ‘an overseas appointment a strong possibility.’ The announcement will be made before the next RBA Board meeting on 5 December. That will be last meeting before we move to the post-Review meeting schedule in 2024.

McIlroy also reports that Governor Bullock will be appointed to chair both the new governance and monetary policy boards. While the RBA Review on balance preferred an independent chair for the governance board, it also suggested the Governor could chair both Boards and this seems to be the model the government has landed on for now, subject to future review. This is not necessarily out of line with international practice. For example, there is no formal requirement for the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board to also chair the FOMC, although in practice the Board Chair has presided over both.