If The Greens have, or had, a cunning plan to engineer the removal of Philip Lowe as Reserve Bank of Australia governor (as they've demanded), they wasted their opportunity at Lowe's appearance at a Senate 'Estimates' hearing in Canberra yesterday. Armed with fragments of new rhetoric and brimming with attitude, Lowe howled about the "corrosive" and "dangerous” nature of inflation, that worsens income inequality, during a typically frustrating encounter with the political class. The nub of Lowe's argument was that complacent Australians "have forgotten" what it's like to live through inflation and cope with the consequences of inflation. "Interest rates are a blunt instrument, but they are nimble," he said. One decent question was whether monetary policy decisions of the RBA board were unanimous or not? They are, Lowe confirmed in a long-winded answer. Lowe also parried queries as to why he'd not followed the practice of recent years by making a landmark speech (such as at the National Press Club) to kick off the year. Lowe responded that he'd heard it argued (and he now agreed) that paying parliament the courtesy this week of appearances at Estimates and, on Friday, the House Economics Committee was the wiser course to frame the agenda for the year ahead.  He brushed off the slanders, first reported by the AFR, that he’d misjudged things by attending a private lunch at investment bank Barrenjoey last week. He met frequently with all sorts of leaders from business and civil society, he pointed out, including bankers.