Lights, camera, RBA
The Reserve Bank is counting down the hours until it lifts the curtains at Martin Place for its revamped monetary policy decision.
Michele Bullock will be rehearsing lines ahead of one the most eagerly anticipated interest rate decisions in years. For a country obsessed with housing and the cost of financing it, that's saying something.
It might sound curious given the RBA is widely tipped to leave the cash rate on hold at 4.35% tomorrow. But the spotlight will be on Bullock almost immediately. She will front the media for a fully fledged press conference — a regular occurrence for Jerome Powell in the US and other central banks but not a feature of Australia’s interest rate cycle until now.
A range of media will be in attendance, including outlets very interested in economic minutiae (such as we here at Capital Brief) but also those with a more populist bent.
Bullock and her new communications chief Sally Cray (a former adviser to Malcolm Turnbull when he was prime minister) will be expecting curveball questions on everything from the impact of the stage 3 tax cuts to state premiers pushing for rate relief and the new inflation outlook.
