Displaying all the caution acquired from successfully navigating a 43-year career in the public service, Philip Lowe did not demolish any bridges in his final public speech as governor.
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But he rattled a few.
In his typically straight forward manner, Dr Lowe took swipes at the behaviour of the media, corporate greed, politicised infrastructure investment decisions, poor housing and planning policies and the lack of consensus around ideas to boost productivity.
While admitting his own shortcomings at times as a communicator - most notoriously his "guidance" during the pandemic that interest rates would remain low - he said the media "has a responsibility too".
"We will get better outcomes if the public square is filled with facts and nuanced and informed debate, rather than vitriol, personal attacks and clickbait," the governor observed.
Dr Lowe also lamented the failure in the past decade to ensure that workers shared in the benefits of productivity growth, warning that this "diminished sense of shared prosperity" posed dangers (such as the backlash against globalisation).
Successive governments have also been guilty of making infrastructure investment decisions based more on political calculations than need and effectiveness, and the governor called for a "well-established framework, based on rigorous cost-benefit analysis".
But his most telling remarks concerned the extent to which monetary and fiscal policy - that is, interest rates and government spending - work in tandem or at odds.
"During my term, there have been times where monetary and fiscal policy worked very closely together and, at other times, it would be an exaggeration to say this was the case," the governor said.
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Dr Lowe dodged naming any particular government but, given that the Coalition was in office during most of his term, it is not hard to draw conclusions about who he had in mind.
The governor pointed to the pandemic as an example of what can be achieved when monetary and fiscal policy work in the same direction.
Both institutions came to the challenge with a "similar mindset" and acted accordingly.
"This approach worked. The Australian economy avoided falling into the abyss and then bounced back well," he said.
Unfortunately, this type of coordination is far from the norm.
The governor wants that to change. That is now something for his successor to ponder.
Adrian Rollins
Adrian Rollins is economics correspondent for the Canberra Times
Adrian Rollins is economics correspondent for the Canberra Times
