Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to again raise my concerns about the arrogant contempt the big four banks are displaying towards their customers, particularly in remote, rural and regional Australia. In September last year, the Regional Banking Taskforce released its final report, and that task force analysed the trends in bank branch closures in regional and remote Australia. The report identified the obvious and disproportionate impact that branch closures have already had on vulnerable Australians. We're talking about the elderly, low-income earners, people from Indigenous backgrounds and people with poor digital literacy. They all strongly prefer face-to-face transactions and bank services. The banks know all this; they just don't care.

Among the task force's key recommendations was for the banks to establish a process for conducting and publishing regional branch closure impact assessments by the middle of 2023. It seems like a pretty simple and practical idea, which would encourage some level of transparency between the banks and their customers. The Australian Banking Association even had the audacity to agree, and I quote from a media release from the association dated 30 September 2022:

The Australian Banking Association today welcomed the release of the Regional Banking Taskforce Final Report and will work constructively to implement its recommendations.

ABA member banks appreciate the government's considered work to help ensure the ongoing accessibility of banking services across Australia and are committed to continuing to serve their customers that live in regional areas.

Well, that's complete bulldust. I'm advised that, since that media release was issued, there have been 86 announced bank branch closures across the country. The banks appear to have used this report and this particular recommendation as a signal to fast-track closures before any further transparency or impact assessments are required.

When a bank branch closes, particularly in a regional location, the impacts will spread throughout the community. The customers who are required to travel distances to access their bank will incur additional cost-of-living increases with petrol and that sort of thing. But they will also, when they are in those other towns, spend money on other services, which diminishes the smaller towns in the first place.

Finally, I refer to Westpac's values statement on its own website. This is Westpac's own values. It says Westpac is:

Well, I say to Westpac: shutting down branches in towns like Sale, in my electorate, with 14,000 residents, is not a great customer experience, and it's not helpful. I call on all the banks to impose a moratorium on further branch closures until the task force recommendations are actually in place. Work with us in regional communities. Stop taking the lazy option of shutting down branches. It's time for all the banks to respect their customers and to focus on people, not on their own profits and their own fat bonuses.

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