Mervyn John Phillips interviewed by Frank Heimans [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 2409200
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Phillips, M. J. (Mervyn John), 1930-2014, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2001
- 6 digital audio tapes (295 min.)
- Summary:
-
Phillips, banker, economist and Deputy Governor & Deputy Chairman, Reserve Bank of Australia, 1987-1992, speaks of his early family life, the impact of the Depression on the family, his father joining the Police Force, the lack of books during the war years, his family's Catholic background and the anti-Catholic discrimination of the time, his Catholic education, the need for economic self-sufficiency during wartime rationing, post-war rationing of petrol, started working in the Commonwealth Bank in 1946, the long-term effects of veterans replacing women who had taken their jobs, his career path in the bank, his university studies, his move to Head Office in 1953 as a cadet, sent to Papua New Guinea in 1960 as a Research Economist to fix their financial system and a banking system, how he initiated a Central Bank in PNG, returned to Australia in 1963 but continued in the PNG Section of the Reserve Bank, liaising regularly with PNG until 1973 when the Bank of PNG was established in 1973, in 1970 was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Bank, moved to International Section of the Reserve Bank in 1973.
Phillips speaks of being appointed Chief Manager, International Dept. in 1976, his view of Nugget Coombs, Foreign Exchange market operation in the 1970s with the Reserve Bank taking all the risks and banks profiting therefrom, Bretton-Woods system of fixing the dollar to the price of gold was undone by the 1972 "Nixon Shock" and never replaced by the International Monetary Fund, Whitlam era caused problems in the currency market, his understanding of the Khemlani Loans Affair in 1974, devaluation of Australian dollar still needed under Fraser government, the impact of Milton Friedman and monetarism, Fraser's unwillingness to tighten interest rates, in 1980 became Head of Securities Markets Dept. then Head of Inernational and Domestic Markets in 1984, Fraser's rejection of the recommendations of the Campbell Committee but Paul Keating as ALP Treasurer made them politically acceptable leading to deregulation of interest rates and the banking industry, economic pressure in 1983 on Australia to float our dollar.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on April 5 & 24, 2001 at Cremorne, N.S.W.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-207290894
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary and corrected transcript (typescript, 95 leaves) available.
- Subject:
-
- Phillips, M. J. (Mervyn John), 1930-2014 -- Interviews
- Reserve Bank of Australia
- Economists -- Australia -- Interviews
- Banks and banking, Australian -- Government policy
- Dollar, Australian
- Banks and banking, Foreign -- Deregulation -- Australia
- Bankers -- Australia -- Interviews
- Banks and banking, Papua New Guinean -- Government policy -- Australia
- Gold standard -- History
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Heimans, Frank, 1943-, interviewer
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2071 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2001
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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