Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes this motion for a royal commission. The government recognises that Australia's banks and banking executives have not always lived up to the standards expected by the community, but the government does not support appointing a royal commission into banking and financial services. The government continues to support our regulators in ensuring the integrity in our finance and banking system, ensuring Australian consumer protection is watertight and ensuring malpractice is punished. A royal commission has no power to enforce the law, whether through taking prosecution action against a person or body or making findings of a breach of the law and imposing fines or penalties. We need to focus on implementing the reforms needed to strengthen our financial system. We have already started implementing measures to improve consumer outcomes, including improving the professional standards of financial advisers.