Sarah Hunter: Recent refinements to the dual mandate and navigating back to target
Remarks by Ms Sarah Hunter, Assistant Governor (Economic) of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at the Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway) Monetary Policy Mandate Conference, Oslo, 2 March 2026.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that I have travelled here from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We are very lucky in Australia that our First Nations people protect our land and culture to hand down to future generations. I would like to pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
Thank you for inviting me to speak at this conference. It is a pleasure to be in Norway and be able to learn from colleagues about how mandates and frameworks can vary across central banks and the implications of this for monetary policy settings. My remarks today will focus on the findings of the recent RBA Review with respect to our mandate, the recent refinements that were made in response and how they have impacted the RBA Monetary Policy Board's (Board)1 strategy and operations. I'll finish with some reflections on the current strategy and trade-off faced by the Board.
As many of you will know, a comprehensive and independent review of the RBA was conducted in 2022/23. The Review concluded that Australia's economic performance had been strong in the three decades since flexible inflation targeting was introduced and found that Australia's monetary policy framework, as well as the RBA's actions, contributed significantly to these outcomes.
While the Review found that Australia's monetary policy framework was fundamentally sound, it recommended that it should be more clearly defined. In response, important changes were made to refine the RBA's mandate and create clarity around its objectives. These changes are welcome. Amongst other things, the Board now provides a clearer assessment of current conditions and the outlook for the economy, and the implications of this for monetary policy strategy; over time, we hope that this will help people across the economy to better understand policy decisions.