david gruen, bernie fraser...the list goes on...the latest is catherine tanna....head of a coal seam gas company.... the coal seam gas companies that are currently digging up our precious food bowl land....
naive to believe otherwise... plenty of evidence if one cares to google for eg; http://www.institutional-economics.com/images/uploads/ANewErafortheRBA.pdf 2 extracts only....
The failure of the newly released board minutes to identify the voting behaviour of board members explicitly recognises that some of the external board members are potentially too conflicted to discharge their responsibilities in relation to monetary policy in a transparent fashion. Increased transparency in relation to the behaviour of individual board members would alleviate the burden currently placed on the appointments process in ensuring the integrity of decision-making on monetary policy. If the actions of individual board members were on the public record, the public could more effectively monitor their behaviour, alleviating concerns about the potential for political interference, partisan voting, and confl icts of interest. The RBA is exceptional in failing to separate monetary policy decision-making from its overall governance and broader statutory responsibilities. ...................... and this............. The Treasury secretary?s continued ex officio membership of the RBA board is also at odds with these trends. The traditional objection to the Treasury secretary?s role on the RBA board is that it might serve as a vector for political influence over monetary policy. But a more basic and powerful objection is that the Treasury secretary?s role on the board is not well-understood. Former RBA governor Ian Macfarlane said that ?no one has ever understood whether the Treasury Secretary speaks for Treasury or the Treasurer and I still don?t know the answer to that ? The only time the question has been put to the test it was clear that the Secretary was representing the views of the Treasury and not the Treasurer.?8 Such confusion concerning the role of a key member of the RBA board is undesirable in itself, and is best resolved by removing the Treasury secretary from it, in line with international practice. Section 13 of the Reserve Bank Act 1959 already mandates ?close liaison? between the RBA governor and Treasury secretary, providing for as much input as needed from the Treasury in relation to monetary policy and other issues.
