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

In contrast, the government is facilitating competition in the banking sector. The member for North Sydney says he is not aware of what the government’s banking reforms to date have been. Let me go through them. The government acted to support small lenders by investing $16 billion in the residential mortgage backed securities market. That was done to help small lenders access more affordable funding at a very difficult time, as the world moved into a global economic shock with the global financial crisis. I know that before the member for North Sydney had his nine-point plan he had his four-point plan and he was calling for the abolition of this, but this is and has been very important to support small lenders. Then there has been the government’s financial claims scheme to protect the deposits of ordinary Australians.

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