Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Here is an opposition in search of a narrative. Here is an opposition who does not know what it is on about. Those opposite are out there grappling around for a story. They were out there grappling around for an issue, they got the front of the Australian and for the last two days they have been running with that. They are running with what was a headline in the Australian. There is no more substance than that. It was a headline in the Australian. There is actually no substance or backing to it, but that has become their narrative. Now they are onto something. They have a story and they are running with it. They are running very fast with it but they are running nowhere. They are running on the spot to stand still.

At the same time they are reading all the newspapers. The member for Cowper has just quoted from a newspaper. I am not condemning the newspapers, but if you want to find a story then go and find your information, go and find some corroborating evidence for your story. They were hoping it was going to happen in Senate estimates today—and aren’t they so disappointed? I have sat through a lot of Senate estimates in opposition and I have been very happy on occasion when it has become the story of the day. But they have been very disappointed today that Senate Estimates has not thrown up the information and the story they want. It did not corroborate the front of the Australian yesterday. They say we have created panic in the markets. Instead, it is the opposition that has created panic in the market.

The global financial crisis is too important to play with. It is too important to take cheap political shots with. The global financial crisis will inevitably have effects on the Australian economy. In some respects we could have weathered this because we are outside of the subprime crisis. But we are not outside the global world. We live within a global financial market. Two key themes stressed by the IMF at the G20 in respect of the global crisis were the need for early and decisive action and for countries to work together in a coordinated fashion to tackle this crisis. That is what the government has done, yet we now stand condemned for it. We have given confidence. We have taken decisive action. At the time the opposition were calling for deposits to be guaranteed. They were the ones out there saying: ‘Go on, go on. Do it.’ And when we did it they said, ‘Terrific.’ But then that was silence because they thought: ‘What we do now? Who do we bag now that we have agreed with it?’ So now they are going to bag it after having agreed with it.

Governments around the world have been moving to strengthen their banking systems. In lots of respects Australia did not have to because we have got one of the strongest banking systems in the world. Our financial regulations are some of the strongest in the world. I sat through hours and hours of the Wallis inquiry in my previous existence with the Finance Sector Union. I even drafted submissions to the Wallis inquiry and I am pretty au fait with how APRA now works. I am on the record in this place on numerous occasions praising APRA. Not many people talk about APRA or know APRA. But as the member for Boothby will attest, having been on a committee with me, I have been a fan of APRA because they do good things. What they do is protect your money, because our banks already have fiduciary responsibilities about deposits that they must keep under protection. They already had that; we already had strict banking regulations. So we did not need to be as strident as other sectors because our markets are already so regulated.

The opposition has been struggling today. Instead of getting the story they wanted out of Senate estimates, what did they get from Ken Henry? He said: ‘In respect of the advice that was tendered to the government and that supported the decision that it took on Sunday, 12 October, Mr Stevens and I were of one mind.’ ‘I tendered the advice to the government, and the governor and I were of one mind in respect of that advice.’ ‘I know there has been considerable public interest in this matter, following a rather unfortunate and fallacious story that appeared on the front page of yesterday’s Australian newspaper.’ ‘We, the Treasury, the RBA and APRA came to the view that it was time to act and act decisively and that was our collective view and we informed the government of that.’ ‘We noted there would be matters of detail to be sorted out in the implementation of the package; we did not express reservations.’

So instead of the opposition finding hope out of Senate estimates today, Ken Henry, the man they abused and said we should sack, has come forward and said, ‘We were of one mind and we supported the decisive action.’ The action the government has taken has shored up our financial systems and should ensure the strength of our markets. We cannot underwrite everything. That would be irresponsible. People moving their money around at the moment are looking for such things as surety. One of the sureties is to move things into cash, and that has nothing to do with bank deposits.

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