1 week Ago By Katina Curtis
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he could be forced to negotiate with the Greens on a planned overhaul of the Reserve Bank after the Opposition said it would not support the legislation. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor flagged on Tuesday that the Coalition would oppose legislation that splits the RBA’s structure to create separate boards dealing with interest rates and governance arrangements. He raised fears that the Government would seek to “stitch up the Reserve Bank board” because it would not agree to a demand that all members of the current board automatically transfer to the new monetary policy board.
“We will not be complicit in Labor’s ‘sack and stack’ strategy, which is why we will be opposing this bill,” Mr Taylor told the AFR. Dr Chalmers said he had been working constructively with Mr Taylor on the changes since April last year and had made compromises in six areas including the arrangements to transfer the board. Katina Curtis and Daniel Newell Under his compromise, all current board members would transfer to the new monetary policy grouping unless they didn’t want to.
He indicated there were some board members who might prefer to be on the governance board, but would name them, and said it was the preference of RBA governor Michele Bullock that there be a degree of continuity on both. “I tried to take the shadow treasurer seriously, even though nobody else appears to, (but) we have always been hostage to the shadow treasurer’s ability to carry an argument internally,” Dr Chalmers said early on Tuesday morning. “The view that they’ve expressed today is irresponsible, it’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising, because they always put politics before economics.
” He said the Government would now consider its next steps, which may include turning to the Greens and other crossbench senators for a deal despite the Treasurer’s preference for a bipartisan arrangement between the major parties. He did not anticipate taking up negotiations with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton personally to try and strike a deal, saying it was more usual for ministers to deal with their shadow counterparts..
