Philip Lowe has a good game face. If he has any doubts over his decisions, they aren’t showing

‘Philip Lowe’s explanation to Senate estimates of his non-public facing rituals read like another vignette from a vanishing world.’ Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, has the reassuring demeanour of a Victorian-era country parson. Australians saw this quality during the opening months of the coronavirus pandemic when he was communicating with the public reasonably regularly on television.

Lowe’s public projection during those opening months of freefall was calm and considered, purposeful and reassuring. So it was interesting on Wednesday to hear a more candid reflection about what he went through in 2020.