One Nation’s economic thought bubbles have little substance – except for one | Greg Jericho

The idea of a people’s bank has been long floated by the Greens. Anything that reduces the oligopoly power of the big four banks is a good thing Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Barnaby Joyce is now the One Nation Treasury spokesperson, which serves as a lovely reminder of his triumphant 15 weeks as shadow spokesperson for finance and debt reduction from December 2009 to March 2010. A period during which he went to the National Press Club and confused millions with billions, and talked about “net gross public and private debt” which … is not a thing. But with Pauline Hanson too busy swanning around in the UK meeting with far-right convicted criminals to care about her own constituents, someone has to talk about things that might affect Australians. He suggested the Reserve Bank of Australia should have the power to call for spending and regulatory cuts. This, he argues, would make the RBA more independent. It wouldn’t. It would make it more political. It would also give power over government spending to unelected officials in the RBA. Call me crazy but I like people accountable to the public