Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I am speaking in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2018. Labor understands the importance of having strong whistleblower protections and laws in our country. That has been highlighted perfectly in the wake of the evidence that's come from the banking and finance royal commission in Australia and the litany of cases in which there's been wrongdoing, rip-offs of customers, scandals and underhanded activities that have been uncovered by people who have been brave enough to blow the whistle on what was going on in that particular industry.

At the outset, I wish to pay tribute to two individuals who did this at the Commonwealth Bank. Of course, there is Jeff Morris, who uncovered what was going on in the wealth management arm of the Commonwealth Bank. Despite his efforts on numerous occasions to contact ASIC and get ASIC to take a look at what was going on in wealth management in the Commonwealth Bank, it took him having to walk into the ASIC offices and demand that they take action before they did. Jeff deserves much praise and credit for uncovering what was going on in the Commonwealth Bank and, indeed, it led to further inquiries into other banks to uncover some of the underhanded behaviour that was occurring in wealth management in Australia. Without his bravery and without his conviction we may not have got to a royal commission and we may not have got to uncover some of the wrongdoing that's been occurring and many of those victims may not have been given the opportunity for compensation where that wrongdoing occurred. The other person is Ben Koh, who was working in a medical capacity for Comminsure and blew the whistle on what was going on in terms of outdated definitions that were being used by this particular insurance company to deny claims to people—and we've seen many cases of that being highlighted in the media recently.

I pay tribute to those two individuals who blew the whistle in Australia on what was going on in banking and finance. But, unfortunately, because of doing so, they have suffered not only in their employment but also with the psychological and health effects that come from doing something like that and the trauma associated with it. It shouldn't be the case. That's why Labor supports strong whistleblower protections in this country. We have a very proud record of providing those protections through legislative action in government. In government we introduced the landmark Public Interest Disclosure Act for public sector whistleblowers. We've already committed to introducing tax whistleblower protections, and we'll push for a stronger and more comprehensive scheme of whistleblower protections in the private sector than is being proposed by the government through this legislation.

The banking and finance royal commission highlighted the appalling and, even arguably, criminal misconduct in the banking sector. It was only because of the actions of brave people like Jeff Morris and Ben Koh that we uncovered those behaviours. The Liberals did everything that they could to protect the banks from that royal commission and to keep some of that misconduct hidden—and for that they stand condemned by not only those on this side of the parliament but also by many Australians who will not forget that this government voted 26 times against a banking royal commission because they didn't want to uncover what was going on in this industry. Despite the fact that people like Jeff Morris had been talking about this for years and had given evidence to Senate and other committee inquiries in this place, the government denied that banking royal commission and only really agreed to it once the four big bank CEOs wrote to the government and said, 'It's okay; you can have the royal commission now. We're sick and tired of all of the controversy around our industry.'

The Prime Minister and the Treasurer's response to the banking royal commission recommendations has, in many respects, been a slap in the face to those whistleblowers who stuck their necks out to uncover what was going on in the industry and those bank victims who wanted to see a swift, strong response from the government to clean up the sector. We all know that they have been tardy in their response and they haven't accepted all of the recommendations.

Mr Irons interjecting—

That's why you've been tardy, because you haven't even given one. They've been slow to adopt the recommendations. Labor has committed in principle to the recommendations. We've said that we will act swiftly. That's why we said that the parliament should sit for an additional two weeks to get on with legislating some of these recommendations, because they are urgent and those bank victims deserve the attention of this parliament—not going away for six weeks because the government are afraid of the parliament sitting because of what will happen when it sits. These bank victims deserve the attention of this parliament. We need to ensure that we get on with delivering the legislative responses necessary to clean up this sector and that we act on the advice of people like the whistleblowers that are the subject of these bills.

The fine print shows that, in many instances, the Liberals are taking no action at all or are taking entirely different actions to what's been recommended by Commissioner Hayne. The government's response is full of weasel words and has in many respects abandoned those brave whistleblowers who stood up against this wrongdoing in their workplaces. It's no surprise that the Prime Minister and the Liberals have once again sided with the banks over everyday Australians on these issues. It was Labor that called for the banking royal commission. It was Labor that fought for the banking royal commission. Labor will work day and night to protect Australian businesses and consumers from misconduct and back the whistleblowers who help to expose the shocking behaviours that we have seen in this sector. In this respect, Labor have been consulting over the past two years—

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