In an appearance at Senate estimates this morning, Bullock was questioned by Greens senator Nick McKim about the Reserve Bank’s role in the housing crisis.

“The $400 billion that the RBA printed in the early year or two of COVID and effectively handed over to retail banks, who then turn around and lend it into the property market, do you accept that that played a role in the housing price bubble that we’ve seen over the last five years?” McKim asked.

“Certainly part of the way monetary policy works is through the housing market, but I would not accept that the Reserve Bank is responsible for the housing price issues in this country,” Bullock, who wasn’t appointed as governor until 2023, replied.

When challenged on that by McKim, who put to her that the RBA “doesn’t accept any responsibility whatsoever in the housing price spike”, Bullock pointed to an oft-cited factor as the genuine culprit.

“The problem is the lack of supply relative to demand, and when monetary policy eases and housing demand picks up, supply can’t pick up as quickly, and that’s where you end up,” she said. 

“But it’s not monetary policy’s responsibility to look after housing prices.”

“It takes time to get approvals and one of the big things is higher density housing and that by its nature takes much longer,” she said.

“It is not something that you can just turn the switch and say ‘alright, now we’re off and running’, it really takes time.”

Bullock also frustrated McKim by telling him investors weren’t significantly exacerbating the housing crisis at the moment, and by refusing to be drawn on whether removing the capital gains tax discount for property would slow price rises.

“I have done no particular analysis on what removal of the capital gains tax might do,” she said.

“It’s (not) my job to tell the government what they should do with the policy,” she added. 

However, when asked by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg about the impact of the federal government’s expanded first home guarantee scheme, Bullock said it was possible it would lead to house prices going “a little higher” in the short-term.

But as for the medium-term impacts, she said that would depend on – you guessed it – supply.