The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) deputy governor has urged shoppers to “vote with their feet” to avoid dodgy price hikes and warned that inflationary pressures have endured into the new year.
Andrew Hauser told the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast that he understood frustration at companies “taking the P” with price hikes and shrinkflation.
“People will take views about particular corporate strategies and pricing, and we saw all of that during Covid, didn’t we, shrinkflation and all the rest of it,” Hauser said.
“I hope people, [and] I’m sure people do, vote with their feet when they think that companies have been taking the P.”
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His comments echo those made by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last year that supermarkets were sometimes “taking the piss”, after sharp grocery price increases saw Coles accused of breaking the law with “illusory” discounts. That case has been in court this month.
As grocery prices surge again, the consumer watchdog has raised concerns about supermarkets charging customers for fresh produce by item, rather than by weight – a practice Guardian Australia found has become increasingly common.
Hauser, who moved from the UK to work alongside Michele Bullock in 2024, acknowledged price hikes would put pressure on households but said that while people may feel that “some of the drivers of inflation are unfair or against their interests”, inflationary pressures were not being driven by any one sector.
January’s inflation figures – the first since the RBA raised the cash rate this month – will be released on Wednesday.
He also defended the RBA’s unwillingness to criticise the spending choices of the Albanese government, saying it was beyond the remit of its “unelected technocrats” to give the government advice.
“There’s a vibrant public debate about public spending and long may that continue,” Hauser said.
“I just think that is our job, frankly, to try and get inflation back under control and to maintain full employment.”
While the RBA is required to pursue both of those goals, the Liberal shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, last week said the RBA had been “confused” and its “core purpose” should be curtailing inflation.
Hauser shut down Wilson’s criticism, saying the bank had always focused on inflation and only chose to cut interest rates to support the jobs market in 2025 because price rises were slowing.
“The labour market has performed very well,” he said. “I’m sure the shadow treasurer and everyone else is not criticising that.”
The RBA raised interest rates earlier in February, and another rate rise would follow if needed to bring inflation down, Hauser warned.
Prices had risen due to an unexpectedly strong world economy and recovering household incomes and business investment, including in datacentres, he said, adding spending and jobs data suggested the economy had sustained momentum into 2026.
Hauser said the RBA had also been surprised by the explosion in bank loans after 2025’s rate cuts, helped by the banking sector’s pursuit of profits.
“Australian banks are very strong,” he said. “They’ve been regulated that way, and they’re ready to lend. They have a set of CEOs, many of whom are new, who have high price valuations of the bank that they need to justify.”
Prospects of interest rate rises have slowed lending momentum and put pressure on mortgage holders’ budgets while delivering savers and wealthy Australians an increased return on their investments.
Hauser said the bank had to set rates regardless of those impacted, warning high inflation would further entrench inequality.
“I sometimes hear this, ‘you’re the fat cat brigade in there to help out bankers’ … no, from time to time those people are as angry and cross with us as [others],” he said.
Hauser likened the RBA’s position to a notorious English football team chant: “You can be equal-opportunity disliked. I guess everyone hates us. We don’t care.”