Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Also important has been the Australian government’s response in instituting the wholesale and retail banking guarantee to ensure the stability of Australia’s financial services sector. As well as being ranked second overall, Australia was ranked first in the world for low risk of sovereign debt crisis, a very important finding , which belies some of the outlandish and opportunistic claims we have heard about the level of Australia’s government debt—first in the world for low risk of sovereign debt crisis. As I say, Australia was the only financial sector in the top 10 over the last 12 months to improve its performance. But there is still a lot more left to do.

We need to make sure that Australia does not squander these opportunities. We need to make sure that we build on the opportunities. For some time the world’s investors will be looking to see who got through this crisis the best. The world’s investors will be looking for a safe harbour where prudential regulation is respected and where the financial services and real economy have done well. We will be making a case that Australia is that nation. That is why we have been taking policy initiatives like reducing our withholding tax from the highest rate in the world to effectively the lowest, to rewriting our tax treatment of managed investment funds and to doing all the other things that needed to have been done over the last decade and a half but which were not done. We will continue to do those things.

Soon we will be receiving the Johnson report, which was instigated by the government last year to recommend the next steps to build on the work we have already done. While some in the House may contend that the hard work is all done, while some in the House may contend that it is time to withdraw stimulus and to leave the financial sector on its own, and to leave the economy on its own, we say there is more work to be done. We will not miss opportunities to create jobs. We will not miss the opportunities to build a financial services sector in Australia which exports more and creates better, well-paying jobs for Australians. We will not miss the opportunities because that is what the Australian people expect of us.

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