Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I think that at the heart of this bill, and it goes hand in hand with what you just outlined about misleading or deceptive conduct, is the concept of what is an excessive surcharge or an excessive fee. When I use my credit card at a shop pay a fee I am paying a fee for service as well. There is no difference whether I go to an ATM and look at my bank account details or I use my credit card to facilitate a transaction in a shop. Either way, you are getting a fee for service. The question I would like you to answer, minister, is: if we know from the Reserve Bank that the cost to a bank of providing an ATM service is on average around 77c, do you think that fees of $2 or $3, for example, that allow the banks to make $600 million profit a year from the Australian people are excessive? If you do, there is no reason you would not extend this bill to include the provision of services from ATMs. Could you please tell me whether you think banks have excessive fees on ATM services?