Fraser Anning (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As a matter of public record, the Turnbull-Morrison government fought tooth and nail on behalf of its bank cronies to prevent a royal commission into banking. The royal commission only occurred because a backbench revolt led by Senator O'Sullivan forced the government's hand. Then, when we finally got the royal commission, the government tried to turn it into a whitewash, appointing only a single commissioner, severely limiting the time allowed for it to report and, of course, greatly restricting the terms of reference. At my instigation, a motion was passed unanimously by the Senate calling on the government to extend the terms of reference to include liquidators, receivers, auditors and the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and increase the time available for the commission, yet the government simply ignored this motion. During the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, around 6,000 victims were allowed to tell their stories to the commission. However, during the royal commission into the banks, only a tiny handful of small-business owners and farmers were allowed to testify.

In response to this, on 14 August last year I organised a meeting for farmers here at Parliament House to tell their stories. Around 150 farmers attended and put on formal record the appalling accounts of mistreatment—tales in which banks imposed millions of dollars in penalties in response to single missed payments, in which banks used the police as their private goon squad and in which one bank manager actually urged a desperate farmer to kill herself. I approached the Leader of the Government in the Senate privately and asked that the government listen to the victims and act on the motions passed by the Senate, but my request fell on deaf ears. Again today I met with bank victims here at Parliament House to discuss what we could do to get them justice.

The fact is that the royal commission has been a tragic missed opportunity. It has uncovered serious criminal misconduct by the banks, but it has also not actually recommended any criminal charges be laid. It has identified gross failings and mistreatment of borrowers, but it has not recommended any legislative response. For the thousands of desperate rural families who have lost their properties due to criminal misconduct by the banks, there is no solace in this and certainly no appropriate compensation. As things stand, the royal commission and the government have failed utterly to meet the expectations of the Australian community.