But, the Reserve Bank is independent and doesn’t succumb to political pressure, does it?

That’s the theory, but the facts could suggest otherwise. Several leading economists have declared it was the wrong move, which could add to inflationary pressures and virtually rule out any further cut when the board meets again in April.

The Australian Financial Review reported some of the ALP MP comments leading up to the last meeting:

• Labor backbencher Sam Rae declared on Monday “my community needs a cut.”
• Junior minister Matt Thistlethwaite said borrowers “deserve some rate relief” while Labor MPs Mike Freelander and Graham Perrett pushed for a jumbo 0.5 percentage point rate reduction.
• Their demands followed months of calls for immediate cuts from Labor-aligned commentators including Craig Emerson, Ross Garnaut and Wayne Swan.

Even the big banks weighed in.

One former senior RBA official said they had never seen a pressure build-up like it.

Meanwhile, a leading economist claimed mortgage holders could face interest rate hikes later this year as a result of the RBA decision.

Judo Bank chief economic adviser Warren Hogan predicted a “disaster situation” unfolding because it’s still too early for rates to come down.

Mr Hogan believes the RBA board risks driving up inflation before it’s truly under control.

“It might sound attractive to a lot of Australians with mortgages to get a rate cut or two and save $50 a month in the short-term,” Mr Hogan said.

“But it puts at risk rates going up by a percentage point or two, and then having to come up with another $100 or $150.

“Do they really want that $50 right now if it risks going up later?”

Sky News host Sharri Markson called the rate cut “economically reckless” and perhaps “politically motivated”.

Ms Markson suggested Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock “caved” into a marginal interest rate cut under sustained political pressure.

“Serious economists and former RBA officials have criticised the decision, which could worsen inflation and the cost of living crisis.”

But will the cut from 4.35 to 4.10 per cent make much difference to Labor’s electoral chances in the face of polls which continue to show a steady overall decline in support for Albanese’s leadership.

Considering it comes after 12 rises – and a long list of broken promises – I very much doubt it.

ASPIRATIONAL

Regardless of whatever spin Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Albo try, we all know how pledges such as a $275 annual reduction in electricity bills (repeated almost 200 times in the lead up to the last election) have panned out.

Apparently, that was just “aspirational” along with cost of living relief, mortgage relief, government transparency and “my word is my bond”.

We all know costs have gone through the roof, fanned largely by power prices which have risen by an average of $1000 and their flow-on effect on food prices and small business failures.

According to Albo and his Energy Minister Chris Bowen, “renewables” are the cheapest form of energy because “the sun and the wind don’t send you a bill”.

But if that were true, our bills would be trending down and there would be no need for billions in subsidies to energy companies or direct temporary handouts to consumers struggling to pay their power bills.

The sun and the wind are also intermittent, either producing nothing at night or when the wind doesn’t blow. Storage batteries can’t compete with reliable baseload power required by our remaining manufacturing industries.

The so-called solar and wind “farms” with thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines are consuming huge areas of arable farmland and native forests home to koalas and other threatened species.

Huge off-shore wind turbines threaten whale migration routes and commercial fishing grounds.

We could once boast the world’s lowest power prices, now we have among the highest because of the Labor’s obsession with “net-zero” CO2 emissions.

This is an unachievable green dream with total reliance on unreliable renewables and an unrealistic ban on nuclear energy, which makes Australia a laughing stock at home and abroad.

The Paris Agreement, which both Labor and the Coalition still adhere to, is pretty much dead in the water since incoming US President Donald Trump withdrew, declare a national energy emergency and pledging to “drill baby, drill”.

Meanwhile, yet another green dream has bitten the dust with the South Australian Government withdrawing its $600m backing for a green hydrogen plant at Wyalla to support the $2.4b steel works rescue packag.

This was announced by the PM and Premier Peter Malinauskas in the wake of the RBA rate cut.