A business leader who lobbied Anthony Albanese to ramp up immigration during a housing crisis has been appointed to a Reserve Bank board.
Jennifer Westacott, the former head of the Business Council of is one of four new appointments to the RBA’s new governance board with five-year terms starting on March 1 next year.
The former head of the lobby group for millionaire chief executives last year called for record-high immigration as tenants struggled to find somewhere to live.
‘There is a current misconception that our migration figures are higher than normal,’ she said in August 2023.
‘It is important to recognise migration numbers currently recorded simply reflect a rebalancing after the pandemic border closures in 2020 and 2021.’
Ms Westacott made that argument as a record 548,800 migrants moved to in the year to September 2023.
‘s net overseas migration rate moderated to 445,600 in the year to June 2024 but this was still 50,600 higher than Treasury’s May Budget forecast of 395,000 arrivals for 2023-24.
International students make up a large bulk of ‘s new foreign arrivals and Ms Westacott was last year appointed chancellor of Western Sydney University.
The influx of overseas students has made life hard for renters, with capital cities in November still having an ultra-tight rental vacancy rate of 1.4 per cent, SQM Research data showed.
‘s underlying inflation rate rose by 3.5 per cent in the year to October but rents climbed by an even more severe 6.7 per cent during the same period.
Despite that evidence, Ms Westacott released a report suggesting it was unfair to blame high immigration for ‘s housing shortage.
‘Migration should not be the scapegoat for poor planning and the failure to deliver housing supply,’ the Business Council of said.
‘New housing growth has been falling as national planning systems have failed to facilitate new supply.’
From next year, the Reserve Bank will have a governance board that runs the central bank and a new specialist monetary policy board.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday announced Ms Westacott would be appointed to the Reserve Bank of ‘s governance board alongside former Telstra chief executive David Thodey, class action law firm Gilbert+Tobin founder Danny Gilbert and National Foundation for -China Relations advisory member Swati Dave.
‘These changes show we can maintain a primary focus on inflation and the cost of living while we keep the reform wheels turning,’ Dr Chalmers said.
‘We’ve selected first-rate ns and we’re confident they have the right skills and experience to help lead this vital economic institution.’
Former Bendigo and Adelaide Bank chief executive Marnie Baker is being appointed to the RBA’s new monetary policy board along with Renee Fry-McKibbin, a professor of economics at the n National University’s Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis.
She was a panellist on an RBA review that last year recommended the creation of a specialist monetary policy board and she is married to former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin, who is also an ANU professor.
The new appointees to both RBA boards start their five-year terms on March 1 next year, serving until February 2030.
Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy and former Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet head Martin Parkinson were part of a panel advising the government on potential RBA appointments.
‘An open and transparent expression of interest process was run, and candidates were shortlisted by the panel,’ Dr Chalmers said.
‘Candidates were shortlisted against a skills matrix, to ensure there was the right mix of skills and experience on both boards.’
The Reserve Bank of has declined to cut interest rates in 2024 even though their counterparts have already done so this year in the United States, UK, Canada, New Zealand and the European Union.
Canada and New Zealand now have policy rates that are lower than ‘s 4.35 per cent cash rate.