Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I spoke with a group of 50 mortgage brokers who live on the Sunshine Coast at a meeting at the Mooloolaba Surf Club organised by John McNamara of SMS Finance. The mortgage brokers that I met are hardworking small-business men and women who are passionate about getting the best outcomes for their clients. They raised their concerns regarding the impacts on mortgage holders that would result from the recommendations of the Hayne royal commission. They drew attention to possible incentives for inappropriately high levels of churn and the damaging impact on competition that these reforms could produce.

In responding to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, we must ensure that large financial institutions whose unacceptable corporate behaviour has hurt so many ordinary Australians are forced to change their approach and put their customers' interests first. However, in doing so, we must ensure that we do not damage those same customers' interests by eliminating small and family-owned businesses in the financial sector and reducing the competition that will be so vital to reform.

I'm grateful to John McNamara and to the many committed mortgage brokers I met for their feedback on how to strike that important balance. I'll be passing on their ideas to the Treasurer in the days to come. They were certainly very, very passionate and animated in their concerns, and I will no doubt be speaking to the Treasurer about them in due course.

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