Lowe has overseen a controversial period of high interest rate rises

Philip Lowe, the current governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), will not be reappointed to his position.

The Cabinet is expected to meet today to decide on his replacement, with an announcement from Treasurer Jim Chalmers to follow.

While Chalmers holds Lowe in high regard, it is believed that the Cabinet will opt for a change.

Three individuals are considered front-runners for the role: Michele Bullock, the deputy governor of the RBA, Steven Kennedy, the Treasury secretary, and Jenny Wilkinson, the secretary of the Finance Department.

Lowe’s seven-year term was scheduled to end in September, but the decision not to reappoint him comes amidst criticism and calls for his resignation.

The RBA’s decision to repeatedly raise interest rates, from 0.1 percent to 4.1 percent over the past year, has drawn fury and discontent.

Lowe had previously indicated that rates would remain at the record low level until at least 2024 but faced criticism for not clearly conveying the caveats to that statement. Inflation, which has been running higher than the RBA’s target range of 2 to 3 percent, eased to 5.6 percent in the year to May.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has argued against considering Kennedy and Wilkinson for the position due to their existing relationships with the government in their current roles as department heads.

“We will support somebody who is independent, and that’s an absolutely essential criteria. You can’t have somebody who is in the pocket of the treasurer or the finance minister,” Mr Dutton told Channel Nine.

“You can’t have somebody who is tainted by an association or a friendship, or worked very closely with the treasurer, the finance minister and the prime minister.”

Having been appointed directly from Treasury, former RBA governor Bernie Fraser dismissed that suggestion as “silly”.

According to Mr Fraser, Mr Lowe had made a mistake in stating he didn’t expect interest rates to rise until 2024, but had handled the situation well.

“I think he’s done a very good job,” Mr Fraser said.