Just before Tuesday’s House of Representatives question time, Scott Morrison rang Liberal maverick Craig Kelly. The PM wanted to be sure Kelly wasn’t an anti-vaxxer.
Kelly said no - his outspoken campaign on hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin was for additional treatment, not as an alternative to vaccination.
Kelly has had his neck saved by two prime ministers: Malcolm Turnbull before the 2016 election and Scott Morrison prior to the last one.
They had their political reasons at the time, but Kelly doesn’t deal in gratitude. In the climate wars, he worked for the demise of Turnbull, and now he’s embarrassing Morrison with his freelancing on COVID.
Few people expected the Reserve Bank to adjust its cash rate at its first meeting of the year today, and for good reason.
But it isn’t a commitment not to
cut the cash rate.
A further
cut in the cash rate to take it below its present all-time low of 0.10% would turn the cash rate negative.
It has always been positive, at times very positive.
Ten years ago it was 4.75%. Then, as now, it was used to help set every other rate.
But there’s no reason why it couldn’t be negative. Borrowing (accepting deposits) entails costs. If the banks offered funds are offered more than they need, they’ll charge for accepting them.
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RBA nails 0.1pc cash rate until 2024
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The Reserve Bank has nailed record low interest rates to the floor until 2024 at the earliest and extended its bond-buying program by another $100 billion despite upgrading its employment and inflation forecasts.
The central bank maintained its cash rate target at 0.1 per cent and lowered its unemployment forecast to hit 6 per cent by the end of this year, down from the 6.5 per cent it had forecast less than three months ago. Inflation and GDP forecasts have also been slightly upgraded.
Surprising most economists was the RBA’s early call to extend its current quantitative easing (QE) program by purchasing an additional $100 billion in bonds.