Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senators Xenophon and Williams, move:

That—

  (a)   the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 2), as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 40 and made under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009; and

  (b)   the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 3), as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 67 and made under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, be disallowed. [F2011L00465 and F2011L00764]

Thirteen sitting days remain, including today, to resolve the motion or the instruments will be deemed to have been disallowed.

The Gillard government through its actions has made it harder for smaller lenders to compete with the big banks. To ensure the lowest possible banking fees and bank interest rates overall, we need robust competition between all lenders. Instead of strengthening and enhancing competition, the Gillard government has reduced and weakened competition. The market share of smaller lenders has collapsed under this government. That reduced competition is not good for consumers and not good for small business.

The coalition welcomes the fact that many lenders are now offering mortgage products with no exit fees, where consumers can choose from that mix of features that best suits their circumstances. It may well be that a consumer prefers to go for the lower interest rate with an exit fee rather than the higher interest rate without an exit fee.

We recommend to the Senate that it pass this disallowance motion that has been put forward by the coalition and Senator Xenophon today. It will force the govern­ment back to the drawing board. It will force the government to think through the implications of what it did in imposing a blanket ban on exit fees. Yes, it may sound counterintuitive, but the government's actions have lessened competition by making it harder for the smaller lenders to compete with the big banks. The government's actions have further strengthened the already dominant position of the big four banks. This is not in our national interest and it is most certainly not in the best interests of consumers and small businesses across Australia. We commend this motion to the Senate.