Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Financial Accountability Regime Bill 2023, the Financial Accountability Regime (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023, the Treasury Laws Amendments (Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort) Bill 2023, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort Levy Bill 2023 and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort Levy (Collection) Bill 2023. Together, they establish the Financial Accountability Regime, extending the existing Banking Executive Accountability Regime and establishing a compensation scheme of last resort.

Astute observers of the goings-on in this place will have noticed that a very similar set of bills came to this parliament, to the House, to this chamber, only a reasonably short time ago. I would note that, as the Assistant Treasurer admitted in his own words, this isn't the first time that the House has dealt with the bills and what they are seeking to achieve. In fact, it was last year that the government introduced similar bills and, quite frankly, the Assistant Treasurer made a complete mess of this whole process.

Taking you back, last year we saw the spectacle of the finance minister gutting this legislation in the Senate because the Assistant Treasurer had cut a disastrous deal with the Greens to add millions of dollars of penalties on community owned banks and bank CEOs. These are community owned organisations. He realised the errors of his ways. This was despite the fact that we had set out, from the beginning, to support the bills. The deal that was done with the Greens—it's always dangerous to do a deal with the Greens—was a surprise to industry, and it would seem that even the Treasurer was surprised by the deal. The response was described in the Sydney Morning Herald as:

… a ferocious response from banks and super funds, who told the government they should have been consulted on the changes.

There then ensued a war of words between the Greens and the Assistant Treasurer. All these months later, here we are dealing with the same issues. These bills could have and should have been dealt with last year.

Australia has a strong financial services sector. It's one of the bedrocks of our economy. Right now, with what we're seeing going on around the world, it is important that it stays that way and it is a good thing that it is that way. We want it to remain that way. It has been remarkably strong through very tough times, at times, over the last decade, going back to the financial crisis. It's important that it stays that way. But it's also important that legislation builds on the coalition's work of implementing the banking royal commission recommendations. We will not delay the progress of these bills through the parliament, despite the fact that the passage through the parliament has been delayed extensively by the incompetence of those opposite. But we must note that the government's continued mismanagement of its legislative agenda is very real in this case—its broken promises on tax and superannuation and its failure to respond to the challenges that Australians are facing every day.

Let me start with the banking royal commission. Whilst our financial services system has served us well, we can't ignore that the royal commission was necessary. We called it—the coalition called it. We committed to implementing its recommendation to take action on all of the 76 recommendations and additional commitments contained in the final report of that royal commission. Significant progress has been made, and the long road to implement these changes is now reaching its conclusion. With the re-introduction of these bills, the last of the legislative commitments to implement the royal commission's recommendations will indeed be completed. The coalition welcomes the introduction of and the government's decision to retain the primary Financial Accountability Regime and the compensation of last resort legislation, largely in the same shape and form.

I have a couple of comments on the financial services compensation scheme of last resort. We introduced this legislation to facilitate the payment of compensation to eligible consumers who have received a determination from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, AFCA, which remains unpaid. This forms part of the final tranche of the legislation to implement recommendations of the royal commission. But there's a key part missing. Part of the Hayne commission recommended commissioning a review into the quality of financial advice—a very important recommendation.

This review was commissioned by our government and is currently sitting on the Assistant Treasurer's desk. It's not a happy place to be, on the Assistant Treasurer's desk, because who knows what he's trying to deal with. We've seen his complete incompetence in dealing with legislation, but the Levy review has been there for months, and the government has not yet responded to it. Responding to the review will be crucial to ensure that Australians can afford or can access affordable, high-quality financial advice. Australians will need this advice at a time like this more than ever, and it is crucial that the review be dealt with in a competent way, in contrast to what we have seen from the Assistant Treasurer in recent months.

We know this government has broken its promises on tax. More than one in 10 Australians will be seeking financial advice following the government's broken promises to increase super taxes. Many Australians are having to get advice about how to deal with legislation coming forward from those opposite, who tax unrealised capital gains, but this is going into a new space. Even Wayne Swan realised the error of his ways when he attempted to tax unrealised capital gains. He dropped it, but that's where those opposite are going, and lots of people are going to need a lot of financial advice about how to deal with those circumstances.

Those opposite are also curbing access to franking credits. It's a promise that was made by those opposite. 'We're going there,' they said. 'It's not going to happen,' they said many times over. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer said, 'We're not going after franking credits.' Well, they're going after franking credits. These are not minor or modest breaches. These are breaches of trust with the Australian people. They go to the integrity of this government that said one thing—crystal clear, unambiguous, no footnotes, no asterisks—before the election and did the complete opposite after the election.

Labor's broken promises on taxes will ensure that Australians are worse off than they would have been, and it remains to be seen how many more broken promises we'll see on taxes as we approach the next budget. But, sadly, in the case of superannuation it goes beyond just a broken promise. It undermines confidence in our superannuation system, where people put their money for very long periods of time, trusting the government and trusting the stability of the system. The important point here is that superannuation is the money of Australians, not the government. It's money for the quality of life of Australians in retirement. It is not a piggy bank for the government to tax and spend. Despite promising no challenges to superannuation before the election, the Prime Minister is proposing doubling super taxes on at least 10 per cent of Australians by the time they retire. We're looking forward to seeing the modelling to tell us just how many, but we know they have admitted that it's 20 times more than their initial number, and it remains to be seen how many it will ultimately be. Of course, that will partly depend on the inflation rate, which is completely out of control under those opposite.

On top of that, they're stopping companies from offering franking credits to Australian investors, super funds and charities and, as I said, taxing unrealised capital gains in super. That means paying tax before you have the cash. This is a pretty ironclad rule of taxation, that you don't tax someone who hasn't got the cash, because what they're going to have to do is sell their farm or their business in order to realise that cash. The disruption this will cause to employment, to investment and to job creation, particularly in regional areas, where we know small business and farming are the backbone of those economies, is something we should all be deeply, deeply concerned about. As I said, many Australians will be affected, and we know that the number is 20 times more than the initial number that Labor said. The fact of the matter is those opposite are breaking promises on an almost daily basis, and I'm sure there are many more to come.

Whilst we won't deny this bill a second reading—it has taken way too long for the bill to get to this point anyway—we do call on the House to recognise the government's mismanagement of the bill, the government's dishonesty with the Australian people, particularly with respect to tax, and the need for the government to commit to reducing inflation and pressure on the cost of living by controlling its own spending, not by taxing Australians more. I move the second reading amendment circulated in my name:

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Debate adjourned.