CPIX inflation has been close to the middle of the inflation target since the June quarter of 1997, and indeed, had it not been for the widening of the target from 0 to 2 per cent to 0 to 3 per cent at the very end of 1996, inflation outcomes in much of 1998 would have been rather uncomfortably close to the top of the band.
On this basis, it is certainly hard to argue that policy in 1996 was too tight. But there have been mistakes in the past, as I have indicated. And there will be mistakes in the future.