Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank all the members who've made a contribution to this debate about some very important issues and a really key economic institution. Thank you for the opportunity to sum up the debate for the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reserve Bank Reforms) Bill 2023.

This bill will strengthen the Reserve Bank's independence. It'll clarify its mandate and modernise its structures. It will deliver the biggest set of reforms undertaken at the Reserve Bank in over three decades, and it will implement the government's response to the independent review of the Reserve Bank of Australia. That review received input from current and former RBA board members, staff and others. It considered international best practice and it canvassed views from across the community. I want to again thank the review panel, some wonderful people—Professor Carolyn Wilkins, Professor Renee Fry-McKibbin and Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM—for their work, and I also thank the more than 1,500 stakeholders who contributed to the review process. I released the review and its recommendations almost 18 months ago now, and I welcome the discussion and debate that has occurred since then.

We've already made some progress on implementation, and here I want to acknowledge the efforts of the Reserve Bank, led by Governor Bullock, in following through on many of the recommendations that go to its own internal operations. As part of our response, I've also agreed on an updated statement on the conduct of monetary policy with the RBA board. That was released in December last year, and I thank the board members for their engagement with that as well.

This legislation before us is the next step in implementing the review. The Reserve Bank governor has said herself that she is 100 per cent behind the changes that are being proposed. She has publicly called for them to be legislated, and that means that opponents of this legislation are at odds with the public position taken by the Reserve Bank governor. Our response to this extensive piece of work is in keeping with its recommendations to strengthen the RBA's independence, clarify its role and modernise its structure, as I said.

To give a little more detail: the bill amends the Reserve Bank Act 1959 and the Banking Act 1959 to reinforce the Reserve Bank's independence in the operation of monetary policy, renew the bank's statutory objectives, improve accountability and transparency in the bank's monetary policy decision-making, enhance the bank's governance arrangements to bring them into line with best practice, and clarify the RBA's responsibility to contribute to financial system stability.

As I said, we welcome the discussion and debate that has occurred in the House and in the broader community since my second reading speech in November of last year. Many MPs have highlighted, as I do again, the critical role the Reserve Bank has played in our economic success for well over six decades now. They've recognised how important it is that we equip the bank to continue serving all Australians in an increasingly complex and challenging economic environment, and they've accepted the review and the government's response to it as the best way forward.

At every stage, I've done my best to reach a bipartisan consensus on the changes before the House. I've always wanted this bill to be widely and broadly supported and for that support to include the major governing parties in this place. As a demonstration of my bona fides in this regard, I want to remind the House that the coalition, via the member for Hume, have raised six issues over the past year and we've responded to each of those six issues in good faith. Whenever there's been a lineball call, whenever there's been a view put to me by the opposition, we've accommodated that view. They wanted the chair of the governance board to be the governor, and we facilitated that. They wanted flexibility in term limits, and we facilitated that as well. They wanted senior RBA executives to have oversight of the operation of the bank; the bill makes the deputy governor a member of the governance board. They wanted to ensure that the dual mandate should exclude references to equal weight, and so the legislation and the statement of conduct on monetary policy that I agreed with the RBA board late last year doesn't mention equal weight for the dual mandate. They asked that section 11 be retained; we proposed an amendment that would have retained section 11 but focused it more appropriately. They asked that all current members of the RBA board should move to the monetary policy board, and we proposed an amendment that would transfer all current board members to the monetary policy board unless that was not their preference.

But, instead of being able to garner enough support for these changes that responded to his concerns and his suggestions, the member from Hume was rolled once again. I dealt with him in good faith. I engaged extensively with him. I had three face-to-face meetings. I organised multiple briefings for him with my department and with the review team. For the best part of two years, I put a premium on bipartisanship, but there is only so much you can do when you're dealing with someone who doesn't carry the necessary authority amongst his own colleagues.

The coalition have had every opportunity to support this important economic reform, and it's more than disappointing that at the last moment they have not. Our preference has always been and continues to be for bipartisanship between the two major governing parties on these issues. That's because I think that these issues and these changes should endure beyond any future changes of government. We will continue to do our best to ensure a bipartisan outcome.

I was planning to move our amendments in the House today as they directly address concerns raised by the coalition, but unfortunately, in light of the position that they announced yesterday, we will not be moving the amendments in the House today. Instead, as you'd expect, we will be considering our options and considering next steps. We are still willing to work across the parliament to help these important reforms get through. We are still committed to the passage of these reforms. We anticipate and we flag for honourable members that we will have to move amendments in the Senate to secure further support. It is not our preference—and I say this respectfully to the member for Griffith—to accommodate the Greens on this, but the coalition may force our hand.

The government is committed to strengthening the independent Reserve Bank in an increasingly complex and changing world. Our reforms are timely and measured, and they should be enduring. To support sustainable growth in our economy and to support a better future, we need an RBA that is transparent, strong and independent, an RBA that draws on more expertise to make its important decisions, an RBA that is at the forefront of international best practice and an RBA that remains world class, and that's what these reforms are all about. That's why I commend the bill to the House.

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