Mark Mitchell

Okay, so these secondary things.

So in differing with these other two banks, firstly, how much are you all flying blind?

How much of this is just plain guesswork?

The war in Iran hasn't ended yet.

Diesel prices haven't normalized yet.

So there's a lot going on, and it is all guesswork.

See, I tend to agree with you.

Why don't they agree with you?

I was at one of our customers on Monday, a large construction company.

They're struggling to pass these costs through.

when you're faced with a consumer at the other end, the ability to pass it through is very, very limited.

And that's what we saw in the retail spending figures yesterday, wasn't it?

I mean, yes, spending went up just a smidge, but a big loading went on petrol.

You've got $100, you spend what you've got, but you spend on the stuff that's gone up and petrol needs is a necessity, therefore that's where it goes.

And so you don't have more money to suddenly spend, do you?

Precisely.

Absolutely.

You speak to anyone who owns

A petrol station, they'll tell you that people in good times come in, they fill up, they pay for the gas, they buy a coffee, they buy a muffin.

At the moment, they go in, they pay for the gas, they buy nothing else.