RBNZ’s chair and board should also go

RBNZ chair Neil Quigley should also go. Source: RBNZ.

In all the column inches written about Adrian Orr’s abrupt departure as Reserve Bank governor, there hasn’t been much focus on the role of RBNZ’s board.

Chair Neil Quigley made a brief media appearance at what looked to be a hastily called stand-up – my invite arrived at 4:30pm and the stand-up was at 5pm – at which he failed to answer most questions apart from asserting that there were no disciplinary issues relating to Orr and that the board still had confidence in Orr.

Which is extraordinary when it meant Orr not being present for RBNZ’s research conference which began Thursday, the day following Orr’s departure, at which former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Benanke was delivering the keynote address.

As long-time RBNZ and Orr critic Andrew Body has pointed out, that in itself is a disciplinary issue.

(Incidentally, Benanke doesn’t come cheap - Auckland University economist Robert MacCulloch notes that his “minimum fee range" is $US 75,000 - $US 149,999, so that's in a range of $NZ 150,000 to $NZ 300,000.)