Adrian Orr: his own worst enemy or just a gaslighter?

Source: Dreamtime

I came away from the Reserve Bank's latest media conference on Wednesday thinking governor Adrian Orr is his own worst enemy.

But after talking to economists and reading a few commentaries, I realised the problem is his inability to admit ever getting anything wrong, so he tries to defend the indefensible and, when that doesn't work, launches into gaslighting and word salads.

That view was reinforced in somewhat spectacular fashion when I watched him abuse the chair of parliament's finance and expenditure committee (FEC), the National Party's Stuart Smith, at RBNZ’s Thursday appearance before the committee.

The last time I'd seen Orr being so outright rude to an FEC member was when answering questions from Nicola Willis, then opposition finance spokeswoman and now finance minister.

Smith asked Orr to explain RBNZ's “180 degree turn” between its May and August forecasts.