Michael Reddell: Oh, what a tangled web

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive - from Marmion, by Sir Walter Scott.

Those were the words that sprang to mind on Friday evening when I heard the news that Neil Quigley had finally resigned as board chair (and board member) of the Reserve Bank. There had been more than enough in his conduct over recent years, and in what he tolerated from Orr, that Quigley should have gone long ago – and certainly shouldn’t have been reappointed by Willis last June – but had it not been for the repeated and sustained efforts of mislead the public over the circumstances of Orr’s departure no doubt he’d have seen out his term (which expired 30 June 2026).

Michael Reddell: One more Treasury OIA about RB spending

All the interest in the Orr-departure story – the background, and the subsequent and ongoing efforts to mislead the public by the Board and the temporary Governor – seems to now centre on the Ombudsman. Various people, including me, have appealed the Bank’s OIA obstructionism on specific requests and the Ombudsman seems to be pursuing the issue reasonably expeditiously.

Michael Reddell: One in five roles could go at the Reserve Bank

That is the headline in a story in The Post this morning. After inquiries from Post journalists a Reserve Bank spokesperson said that final decisions on organisational change, advised to staff last week, would mean a net loss of 142 jobs (35 of which were currently vacant; presumably the Bank has had some sort of hiring freeze in place for some months now).

Michael Reddell: What was the story re Orr’s resignation?

It is almost six weeks since the shock announcement early on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 March that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, was resigning effective 31 March, and that in fact he had already left and an acting Governor was already in place. Orr had been (controversially) reappointed in late 2022 to a second five-year term that still had a little over three years to run.

Michael Reddell: On the way ahead

In my post last Thursday I offered some thoughts on changes that should be initiated by the government in the wake of the Governor’s surprise resignation. (Days on we still have no real explanation as to why he just resigned with no notice, disappearing out the door and (eg) leaving his international conference in the lurch, but this post is entirely forward looking.) Here I want to elaborate on three points, having benefited from a few days to reflect and a few useful conversations/exchanges:

Michael Reddell: Reading Reserve Bank plans and budgets

It isn’t something I’d usually recommend (or even do myself) but the useful new Twitter account @Charteddaily (basically one interesting New Zealand chart a day) posted a couple of charts drawn from the suite of Reserve Bank documents that were released last Thursday, and they piqued my interest (and, for reasons you will see below, concern).

Michael Reddell: Astonishing indifference to a failed instution

Since taking office, the new government has replaced quite a number of chairs of government entities. I’m sure there are many others but NZTA, Health NZ, Pharmac, and the FMA are just the examples that spring to mind. It isn’t uncommon for such changes to be made, and in many government entities board members can be replaced at will by the government of the day.