Government announces future board members chosen from list provided to Govt by Governor and Head of Treasury
On 7th December, 2007, the Government announced that future board members will be chosen from a list provided to the Government by the Governor and the head of Treasury. It was announced that this would be a more transparent and democratic process. Is it? We have two people from the “ivory tower” choosing who can go on the board. It would be tempting to put forward only those who would be compliant to the bureaucratic view. And where is the democracy? The Governor and the head of Treasury are not accountable to the people every three years; so why is their decisions to run our lives a democratic process?
I think it is a dangerous abuse of democracy to pass such a vital instrument as interest rates into the hands of a bureaucracy that is unaccountable to the people and a bureaucracy with no business experience. And a bureaucracy with, in my opinion, a proven FAILED track record of upholding its charter to improve our living standards.
Perhaps a warning sign that this undemocratic process is failing us is that the Governor refuses to release the minutes of the voting and comments from the board members. Why the secrecy? Were they speaking up against the final decision? Was the vote close? What if these voting minutes of individual board members were released as all other central banks do! It would give us a history on the “crystal ball” ability of each and every board member and then the “crystal ball” ability of bureaucrats also sitting at the table. Incidentally, the number of bureaucrats at the board meeting equal that of the board members selected from the general public. Intimidating?
Does the Governor feel that these bureaucrats (in a prepared front) can roll the other board members? Perhaps this might explain why the Governor was able to announce before the November 2008 meeting that a decision would be made and released at 1.30. This accurate predication was made the day before the meeting. What an amazing crystal ball!
We need a royal enquiry into the performance of our “independent” and “transparent” Reserve Bank. We need to examine what, I believe, is their failed “crystal ball” that has led to bloated banks, high inflation and a breach of its charter. Only a royal enquiry would bring forward, I believe, a more efficient banking system and a more efficient economy.
What is the process? Simply add your name and email address to the call. We will then be able to send you a formal email petition to acknowledge when we reach the 5,000 for the petition.
Regards
Kevin
