Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy and privileged to support this motion by the Greens for the second reading of the Banking and Financial Services Commission of Inquiry Bill 2017, and I also want to congratulate the Labor opposition for the years they have spent working on this, demanding a royal commission, because in this case the government of Australia has refused the people of Australia a royal commission into the banks for far too long. If the calls my colleagues are getting are anything like the calls and emails that I have been receiving over the years, long before I got into politics, you know that people are desperate and fed up, not with what is going on but with what is not going on—that nothing seems to be happening. They want answers, they need answers and they deserve answers.

A parliamentary inquiry into the banking and financial services sector is the closest thing you can get to a royal commission without actually having a royal commission, and it seems we will not be getting a royal commission, even though the sector is central and vital to the Australian economy, and even though a fair, functioning and honest system is vital for public confidence. The inquiry will, I know, try to call out misconduct, and you hope that, by doing that, it can protect everyday Australians, because the banking sector and the broader financial sector have the power, if unmanaged and unchecked, have the power to abuse people, rip people off and ruin people's lives. We usually only hear about the terrible instances of misconduct which have gone on after somebody has lost their life savings, has lost their home, has lost their health or has lost their life—because we know there have been suicides brought on by the misconduct of some of the banks, and losing the farm as well. We need to start stopping this from happening, rather than just reacting with the predictable sympathy. Sympathy only goes so far, because people's patience has run out.

I think the current system, as it is, does not pass the pub test. We need to fix it now. The government obviously knows that there is a problem, because, if there were not a problem, why would the government hold their Claytons inquiry, through the House Standing Committee on Economics, where they get the bankers down here, they come in front of the TV cameras, they stand there for three hours, they all go home and, as Senator Gallagher said, nothing happens? They have done two of these now. Nothing has happened.

So I warmly support the Greens on this one. I congratulate you on it. As I said, I thank the Labor Party for pushing it so hard.