In focus: Australian interest rates over the last four and a half decades

Every year, the Museum of Australian Democracy asks a guest curator to select a series of cartoons addressing a topical issue in Australian politics. This year, economic journalist and author Ross Gittins has selected and responded to cartoons about interest rates spanning four and a half decades of Australian economic management.

There is nothing new about interest rate volatility. From the 1987 stock market crash to the 2007–08 Global Financial Crisis, fluctuating interest rates have hit Australia in a variety of contexts.

In September 2023 Michele Bullock became the first woman to be appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The announcement of her appointment in July followed a series of official cash rate rises. The associated cost-of-living pressures were partly blamed on her predecessor, Philip Lowe.

Ross Gittins AM is an Australian political and economic journalist and author, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He won the Walkley Award for most outstanding contribution to journalism in 2020, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008.

Gittins has honorary doctorates from four universities, and is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and a fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.