Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think I would agree with all senators in this place that the banking royal commission has revealed for us some terribly damning happenings in the financial services sector; things that none of us want to turn our backs on and ignore, things that do need to be addressed. This is why I find it a bit rich when senators opposite complain about the government and the time it's taking to outline its plans to respond to the recommendations of the Hayne royal commission. It's something that we've outlined quite clearly and very publicly; it's something that the opposition have not yet been able to do.

It is not often that I agree with my friend and fellow Tasmanian Senator Whish-Wilson—about as much as I agree with Senator Polley, I suppose, which is not very often either—but the point made by Senator Whish-Wilson in his contribution is something that I think Australians need to be aware of, and that is that the opposition, who talk about this historic fact of how many times a government voted against motions for a royal commission, spent two years rejecting the same calls for a similar inquiry. Now they are trying to take the moral high ground. They come in here and say, 'This government should've done it the first time we moved a motion.' What happened between the years 2013 and 2014? They are as guilty as those they point the finger at. So we're not in here to have a history lesson. We're not here to rake over the coals of history. That has been done. We've had the royal commission. We've heard the heart-rending stories. We've seen the terrible deeds that have been done to hardworking Australians, who simply wanted to get ahead and trusted the banks, the insurance providers, the superannuation funds and all the other entities involved in this inquiry. We now need to act.

Before the commission's findings had been presented to government, we had the opposition demanding that everything be released immediately, including the government's response. Yet here we are, days later, and the opposition are yet to outline a position when it comes to default superannuation funds and what they'll do for the small business operators, the mortgage brokers, who have been quite vociferous in their communication with members of this parliament about how the recommendations, if implemented, would impact on their business. I think we need to take stock of what would happen.

The point made by the opposition is that they would agree in principle to all the recommendations—which is part of what they've said; I'm not sure what that actually means. This would devastate the mortgage broking sector. The great majority of home loans provided to hardworking Australian families is, as I understand it, through mortgage brokers. You only have to think about the competition that they provide. If you go to a particular big bank, they're not going to tell you about the bank down the road and the rates they're going to offer. They're not going to tell you about the small credit union and how they might be a bit better for you. That's what a mortgage broker does. Let's not forget that these people are small businesses. There are 17,000 of them across the country, employing more than 20,000 people and providing a service which has seen a reduction in rates that banks apply to home loans in great numbers.

The opposition can rake over the coals of history, but there is an election coming up later this year and this is a group of people who say they want to be in government, who say they can be trusted to run this country. I would encourage them to provide us, to provide the Australian people, with their answer to the royal commission and its recommendations. What are they going to do? If they are going to implement everything which they agree with in principle, as they say they will, how will it impact on those who rely on the services that mortgage brokers provide? Tell us what they're going to do about the default superannuation situation. How are they going to address these things? They haven't and they won't.

In the few seconds remaining to me, I think it is important to talk about what we have done. To sit there and rake over the coals of history about how many times a motion had been voted against is one thing, but we should actually look at the facts of what has happened in this place over a period of time and what measures the government has put in place to make the financial services sector better for consumers. There was the inquiry in 2013 and the Bank Executive Accountability Regime, which started in July 2018; the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which started last November—a free service; and $170 million in more funding to ASIC—just to name a few. Action has been taken. They can rake over the coals of history but they should stump up now and tell us exactly what they're going to do. (Time expired)

(Quorum formed)