Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Continuing to respond to the question I was asked about the government’s earlier wave of reforms, that wave of reforms also included the government’s financial claims scheme to protect the deposits of ordinary Australians, something that the Howard government failed to do over 12 long years. That earlier wave of reforms included the account-switching package that the government introduced in 2008 to help customers transfer their financial arrangements across banks. The government has also taken steps to develop a deeper and more liquid corporate bond market. That is going to help businesses to borrow from retail investors and reduce their reliance on borrowing from banks. The RBA introduced reforms in 2009 to make ATM fees more competitive and transparent, and fees such as those for using foreign ATMs have fallen significantly. Then of course there is the government’s work on unfair mortgage fees that keep people tied in to financial products that they no longer want when they decide to shop around. The government, having delivered these earlier reforms, will build on these reforms in a thoughtful way. I am not surprised that the member for North Sydney does not understand the government’s approach, because being thoughtful has never been his strong suit.

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