Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

In my hand is a petition signed by more than 1,800 people from my electorate who are angry that the ANZ bank is closing its branch in Lobethal next month. The petition was organised by local businessman Garry Hughes from GE Hughes Construction, one of the major employers in the district and in my electorate. Garry told me he plans to take his banking elsewhere because he feels so betrayed by ANZ. Businesses and community leaders down on the south coast feel equally aggrieved because the ANZ has shut the doors on its branch in Goolwa. For the people of Lobethal, the closure is particularly insulting because the ANZ put out a statement saying that they consulted with the community, but they didn't. When the community went to them with a plea to postpone their decision for just 12 months, the ANZ wasted no time in saying no. That no was delivered even though Garry went to see them with an offer to buy the bank building and then lease it back to ANZ so they wouldn't have any impediments to a trial.

The reason our community is so upset is because banks are anchor facilities in our communities. When they close, it has such a negative effect on all of us. People drive further to a bigger town to do their banking and face-to-face transactions, and then they do the remainder of their shopping there rather than in their local town. This has consequences for small towns and for my small towns in Mayo. For those who can't drive and don't have public transport access, which we don't have in much of my community, it makes it even more difficult.

The ANZ said, 'Everybody's doing their banking online.' Well, I question that reasoning. Online banking is not usually embraced by a significant number of our senior citizens. Mayo is the oldest electorate in South Australia and the sixth-oldest in the nation. Certainly every time I've been into the local branch, I've had to wait in line. The Lobethal branch is the biggest across the whole region. You would need to go more than 30 kays in every direction to find another branch. It is also across from one of the biggest retirement villages in the community.

Last year, Shayne Elliott, the chief executive of ANZ, was reported as saying in the media that 'the role of banks in the community extends well beyond financial services' and that the 'banks must be responsible for the social and environmental impacts their operations have' on society. I call on Mr Elliott and the ANZ to live up to their social corporate responsibilities and not leave my community high and dry. I seek leave to table this petition.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

The document was unavailable at the time of publishing.

I look forward to ANZ hopefully having a change of heart with regard to the closure of our ANZ bank. Mr Elliott, I am keen to talk to you and I hope that you get to see this video from the parliament.

See this speech in context