Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the last 48 hours, we have witnessed the unlikely spectacle of our merchant banker Prime Minister trying to make himself over as a bank basher. It is the most improbable identity change since the action movie classic Face/Off, but unfortunately the Prime Minister does not have the acting chops of Nicolas Cage or John Travolta that are needed to pull it off. It is like watching someone trying to reboot Wall Street with Gordon Gekko as a social justice warrior. It just will not work: a leopard will not change his spots and a merchant banker will not change his suits.

The Prime Minister is attempting to mount a hostile takeover of the concept of fairness. He wants to strip the assets; he wants to strip all meaning from the word. But just like when you are dealing with the banks, when you get a glossy new advertising brochure from a freshly rebranded bank you have to check the fine print to see where the catches are. The Prime Minister's cunning plan to impose a $6 billion tax on the banks will be passed onto customers faster than a Western Bulldogs handball.

The Prime Minister will not stop them, and the banks have made that clear. There is $6 billion in new fees and in increased interest rates for mortgages in the mail for Australian consumers. In six weeks time, the merchant banker Prime Minister will give all of the bank bosses a $100,000 income tax cut. CBA boss Ian Narev's taxes will be cut by $171,000. All the while, the merchant banker Prime Minister will be protecting the banks from a royal commission that would end the rorts and the rip offs. Do not be fooled: the Prime Minister was a friend of the banks before. Once a merchant banker, always a merchant banker—you can bank on it!

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