Mike's Minute: The Reserve Bank mess is finally at an end

Rhetorical question - why do you think Neil Quigley quit on a Friday night?

The key is, he would have been booted if he didn’t walk. So it sort of ends a shambolic and shameful period for what should be one of our most esteemed institutions.

Between Orr and Quigley (mainly Orr) they have made a joke of the Reserve Bank.

What should have happened is simple.

When the Government decided, rightly, that the gargantuan amount of money Orr wanted to run his fiefdom was never going to fly Orr should have, in an adult way, stated he disagreed and he disagreed to the point he could not see himself continuing in the job.

He would then resign, they would organise a nice, but frugal, farewell morning tea and that would have been that.

But what actually happened was Orr chucked his toys, yelled and stamped his feet to the extent that Quigley had to write to Orr.

All this was also kept secret until the Official Information Act and the Ombudsman forced their hand and exposed them for the bunch of egotistical babies they are.

Quigley was yelling at Treasury, Orr was yelling at Willis, deals were looking to be done, letters and proof was looking to be binned and cheques were being written to make it all go away.

Lest we forget, in an irony of ironies, this is the same group of clowns who buried the economy in the hole we are still trying to get ourselves out of years after Covid.

So they couldn’t do their job, they stuffed the place, then packed a massive sad when their rain shower of funding was getting rectified, started a big tantrum and scrap with various departments and ministers, then tried to cover it all up.

Have I missed anything? Oh, Orr vanished with the money, never to be heard from again.

To his credit Quigley hung around and made a few public appearances while trying to paint a picture of normality, until the Ombudsman undid him last week and that was that.

They really are an embarrassing, shambolic mess. On a side note, it's also why I assume Christian Hawkesby stands zero chance of getting Orr's old job. He is fatally linked to this period of mayhem.

We'd be glad to see the back of them, if it wasn’t for the fact we are still trying to clean up the mess and every one of us is paying the bill.

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