12th Sep 2024, 12:16 PM – Representatives Treasury Laws Amendment (Reserve Bank Reforms) Bill 2023 - Consideration in Detail - Differences of opinion with the Government on questions of policy

The majority voted against amendments introduced by Melbourne MP Adam Bandt (Greens), which means they failed.

What does this amendment do?

Mr Bandt explained that:

It is not an accident that the Reserve Bank is raising interest rates to the point that it is smashing people and starting to smash the economy. It is Labor's strategy for tackling inflation when there is an alternative right before it. This suggestion that there's somehow nothing the government can do about it—the lie is given to that by this very legislation. What this legislation shows and what this amendment seeks to fix is that existing within current legislation is the power for the government to step in right now and stop interest rates from going up. The government has the power under this legislation to stop it happening right now and to do all of those other things that would tackle inflation and stop inflation without hurting everyday people. Yes, it would hurt the big corporations and their profits a bit, but it would help everyday people. That's an alternative way. But, to do that, you have to step in and pull the levers that you've got and stop pretending that you've got no power to fix problems.

Amendment texts

(1) Schedule 1, item 2, page 3 (lines 20 to 23), omit the item.

(2) Schedule 1, items 4 to 6, page 4 (lines 1 to 9), omit the items.

(3) Schedule 1, Part 2, page 5 (lines 1 to 8), omit the Part.