Bullock’s 150,000‑word marathon leaves rate‑setters clutching their calculators

A fresh pot of coffee sat untouched in the back of the Reserve Bank’s press room, its steam still rising as if waiting for the next 7,000‑word explanation of why the cash rate is still stubbornly polite.

Michele Bullock, the RBA’s resident wordsmith‑in‑chief, has now delivered the verbal equivalent of a marathon novel – 150,000 words spread over 22 press conferences, 600 questions, and an unbroken record of sounding as if she’s still drafting the next budget.

Economists in the gallery have begun swapping their calculators for earplugs, noting that the real volatility in the market today is the rate at which Bullock can exhale a sentence about monetary tightening.

One senior analyst, who asked to remain nameless because his attention span is already exhausted, remarked that the only thing more inflationary than the cash rate might be the sheer volume of syllables emanating from the podium.

The RBA’s communication team, meanwhile, has quietly added a new metric to its quarterly report: “Average words per press conference”, a figure that now rivals the nation’s average daily commute distance.

Bullock’s latest address included a detailed description of the central bank’s decision‑making process that could have doubled as a guided tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – complete with historic anecdotes and a side‑note on the best time to catch a ferry.

Market participants responded with the usual mix of cautious optimism and bewildered silence, as traders tried to decipher whether the next move would be a rate hike or simply a new chapter in the governor’s unwritten memoir.

In the end, the only guaranteed outcome of Bullock’s verbal onslaught is that future press briefings will likely require a “words‑per‑minute” disclaimer, lest the public be left feeling they’ve missed a crucial clause hidden somewhere between the 42,000th and 43,000th word.