Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we stand here today, floods are right across the Parkes electorate. Moree, in particular, has been hit hard, and at the moment they're cleaning up. And, as they have done over the years, they will get on with life after the flood and get over it. But what they're not going to get over is the decision by Westpac to close the Moree branch. Westpac have been in Moree for over 150 years. Moree is one of the most highly productive agricultural shires in Australia, and some of the customers at Westpac have had, through their business, continuous family connections there since the day the branch opened in the 1870s. The Moree people are outraged, not only our elderly and our pensioners but also our businesses who rely on that branch to manage their cash flow and who are now being left out in the cold. I've written to the CEO of Westpac, and, here today, I'm calling for Westpac to reconsider this decision. The people of Moree deserve to have a branch. They have been loyal to Westpac since the day it opened, and Westpac needs to show the same loyalty back to them.