Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This budget has seen the Prime Minister's pantomime war on banks. First of all, we have seen the supposed bank tax, which day by day is being turned into a consumer levy through government incompetence. We have seen a free pass given by this man to the banking sector on the question of a royal commission. There is no transparency and no accountability. We have seen a tax cut given to all of these bank executives. Whether they gather in Sydney or Canberra—wherever they are gathered for their little powwow—they will all get a whopping great big tax cut out of this. Some of them, the ones on an $8 million a year base salary, will get a $170,000 a year tax cut. They will be really, really upset with this Prime Minister! They will be really, really upset with this pantomime war on the banks!

Prior to the budget, there was a leak to Sky News which wiped $14 billion off bank shares' values, and we had the member for Durack this morning on Sky News saying, 'Oh, it's a good time to buy bank shares, profit out of this fake crisis and benefit from this pantomime that is going on.' This Prime Minister was created by banks. This Prime Minister was nurtured by banks. Once a banker, always a banker. This pantomime war on banks is a fraud against the public interest.

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