Carrington Clarke

Even though we then subsequently saw inflation rearing its ugly head at the end of last year, you don't think the Reserve Bank's actions going with the three cuts made that situation worse?

Should they have done one or should they have waited longer?

What do you think?

They're doing the best thing they can.

And I mean, I think Michelle Bullock is doing a good job in these press conferences of trying to explain why it is that they're so hyper-focused on...

inflation and why they think it is the most damaging, one of the most damaging things that can happen to an economy and that it actually does hurt the most vulnerable more than anyone else.

And so that's why they're fixated, even though obviously people who have mortgages think, why are you imposing this pain on us right when we're already facing higher prices?

But they know how damaging this is historically.

And so that's why they're trying to

to deal with it while not running the economy into a recession.

Again, the question was asked of Michelle Bullock, is that basically a cost you're willing to wear?

And she kind of skirted around it.

She said, that's not our intention, but we need to, and she said, other...

Central banks around the world have done that.

They've hiked rates so quickly that- New Zealand, are you listening?

Right, exactly.

But she's saying that's not what we're trying to do here.

We're trying to adjust more incrementally so that we can hopefully have a situation where unemployment isn't rising too quickly, but inflation is coming under control.

But that is difficult.

And one of the things I thought was interesting, Lucy Ellis, who's the chief economist at Westpac, she's a former-