Malcolm Edey, an assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, provided US diplomats with insights into staff and board thinking on monetary policy one week ahead of a regular board meeting in April 2009.
According to an embassy cable: "In our April 2 meeting with Edey, he admitted that the Reserve Bank was 'truly undecided' a week out from its April 7 monthly Board meeting on whether to continue aggressive interest rate cuts."
The cable also attributed to Edey the view that "the Board was by no means committed to [expected further cuts in rates], pointing out that recent statements by Reserve Bank officials were deliberately worded with a mixed assessment of the economic outlook."
The cable also cites discussions with Steven Kennedy, the chief macro-economic advisor to the then prime minister Kevin Rudd, griping over the influence of RBA board member Warwick McKibbin.
Wikileaks fostered access to this, and many other
US diplomatic cables that had previously been deposited with the US archives, this week.