The RBA is also the banker to the Australian Government. This means that we process all social security payments, tax payments and Medicare refunds. That is a big and important job in itself. We also operate the core of Australia's payments system – when you send money from your bank to another it goes through the Reserve Bank.
First, the increase in the rate of growth of M3 over the past few months reflects a relatively flat yield curve and the recent weakness in stock markets, both of which made the holding of short-term deposits and marketable paper included in M3 attractive.