For Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers, it might be worth a gentle reminder to colleagues about Labor's explicit commitment to observing due process, statutory independence, and institutional confidence.
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As Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe prepared to front a parliamentary committee to explain the central bank's ninth straight rate hike, the chatter in the political class centred on how tough his "grilling" would be. That the Governor would be replaced later this year rather than have his term extended, was simply a given.
Most of this was off the record but some MPs and even ministers went public - in direct contradiction to the bank's approach - arguing further rate hikes were unwise because enough had been done to drive inflation down.
This was unfortunate.
A key attraction of Albanese's pitch to voters was to restore order and respect to cabinet government, and to rebuild public confidence in institutions after the hyper-political Morrison period.
Arguably, that worthy goal has been tainted by public jaw-boning which does nothing to alter RBA decisions but might succeed in making the Albanese government look more like the amateurish show it replaced.
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Self-evidently, the Bank's mastery of economic data took a hit when Lowe's prediction the cash rate would remain at a record low level of 0.1 per cent until 2024, turned out to be wrong. Spectacularly.
If Lowe had not previously acknowledged this, then the most sustained monetary tightening campaign since inflation targeting became the Bank's official mission, was all the proof borrowers needed.
Yet there's no questioning its current challenge with inflation soaring to 7.8 per cent - more than double the top extreme of its target inflation range of two the three per cent.
Transparently, the Coalition used Lowe's appearance to ramp up pressure on Labor by trying to adduce evidence to the effect that (i) government spending is inflationary and is thus adding to interest rate pressure and (ii) that Lowe himself has been subjected to a "coordinated attack" by Labor MPs to undermine him.
To his credit, Lowe wasn't having any of it. He described fiscal policy as "neutral" rather than inflationary, adding that it was widely accepted that interest rate policy was a more nimble tool for articulating an economy than government spending as such. And he said he was unaware of any coordinated attack.
In the end, the appearance - the first of two such parliamentary "grillings" this week, showed Lowe's respect for the independence of the RBA and its proper disinclination to stray into partisan politics.
It's a pity MPs on both sides can't show similar restraint.
Mark Kenny
Mark Kenny is The Canberra Times' political analyst and a professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute. He hosts the Democracy Sausage podcast. He writes a column every Sunday.
Mark Kenny is The Canberra Times' political analyst and a professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute. He hosts the Democracy Sausage podcast. He writes a column every Sunday.
