David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Economics, I present the committee's report entitled Review of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission annual report 2016together with the minutes of the proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—At its public hearing on 16 August this year, the House Economics Committee scrutinised the ACCC, which outlined its main responsibilities as Australia's competition and consumer regulator under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The committee scrutinised the ACCC on its performance and roles across various markets, recent activities and priorities for the coming year.

One of the very important aspects of this hearing concerned the ACCC's new Financial Sector Competition Unit. This unit was established in response to a recommendation of the House Economics Committee in its review of major banks. One of the things that the House Economics Committee identified was a gap in the regulatory system at the moment and a lack of regulatory supervision of competition issues related to the banks and, in particular, in relation to the pricing of interest rates. So the committee was very pleased when the Treasurer announced in the budget that the ACCC would be empowered to set up a new financial services unit, with about $13 million of funding over four years.

At the hearing, the committee heard that the ACCC's work on competition in the banking sector has already begun. Indeed, at our hearings with ANZ and Westpac last week, both chief executives of those banks confirmed the new ACCC competition monitoring unit had already required the banks to provide documents to the ACCC in relation to the setting of interest rates, and that is a very positive development. It is an important reform because it will require the banks to fully and transparently account for their interest rate decisions. If bank executives are making misleading statements about interest rate movements—for example, if they were to misleadingly attribute price increases to a cause that was not in fact accurate—the committee expects this will be identified by the ACCC unit and the banks will be held accountable.

The committee notes the new Financial Sector Competition Unit, under the leadership of Mr Marcus Bezzi, has been requiring the banks to provide documents. In a recent statement the ACCC noted that it would contest the banks' contention that the lending limits imposed by the prudential regulator were to blame for the recent rate rises. The committee looks forward to the outcome of this detailed scrutiny.

In addition to its new role in the banking sector, the ACCC has been given new powers to enforce a ban on excessive payment surcharging by Australian businesses and is poised to take enforcement action if businesses continue to charge inappropriate fees on credit, debit or pre-paid card payments. The ACCC is also monitoring broadband performance to inform consumers about fixed-line broadband services delivered under the NBN. The hearing also discussed the ACCC's investigation into pricing in the electricity sector, and the committee notes the publication of that report today.

The committee also discussed with the ACCC the Takata airbag recall, which has resulted in more than 2.3 million Australian vehicles being recalled due to serious safety issues dating back to 2009. The committee notes that the ACCC is monitoring the voluntary recall to determine whether a mandatory recall is necessary to address safety risks for consumers, and the committee notes further developments from the government since that hearing. Given these new roles and powers, the ACCC must remain vigilant in monitoring and protecting Australian consumers against anti-competitive behaviour and breaches of consumer law in Australia's markets. The committee will continue to scrutinise the performance and effectiveness of the ACCC's operation. On behalf of the committee, I thank the chairman of the ACCC, Mr Rod Sims, and other representatives of the ACCC for appearing at the hearing on 16 August. I commend the report to the House.