Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As has been pointed out by Senator Smith, this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2022, has been before the Senate, without debate, for well over a year now. There are reasons for that that I will come to shortly. But I do want to say, at the start of this debate, that Labor has abjectly failed to listen to the concerns of consumer groups and to include greater safeguards to protect consumers' privacy. They have abjectly failed to listen to the concerns of consumer groups and to include safeguards to prevent scams and financial abuse in the consumer data right framework that is before us today. I also want to make the point that Labor has abjectly failed to adequately listen to the concerns of small banks and mutuals, who are disproportionately impacted by their obligations under the proposed consumer data right framework.

Instead of fixing problems with the framework, Labor just took the easy option and left this bill to languish. There's a reason, of course, that they did this. I note that this bill is under the carriage of Assistant Treasurer Mr Jones—and members would be aware that I have had a complicated relationship with him over the first couple of years of this parliament. Mr Jones took the easy option here and left this bill to languish for one simple reason: the big banks in Australia—and, I might add, the big insurance companies in Australia—opposed this legislation.

Now, I'm going to pause here and remind folks what happened when Minister Jones and I agreed that, in relation to passing a particular piece of legislation within a particular timeframe, Labor would include million-dollar fines for dodgy bankers—that is, the capacity for fines of up to a million dollars for banking CEOs who fail to meet their integrity obligations that were conferred in that legislation.

After we reached that agreement, within 24 hours Labor had backed out of it because of former Labor premier Anna Bligh, who is, of course, now the head of the Australian Banking Association. It's that revolving door that we see so much from the establishment parties out of this parliament, where senior members of both parties roll out of this place and state and territory parliaments into cushy sinecures with fossil fuel companies, gaming associations, banking associations—big corporate Australia. Of course, Ms Bligh rolled out of the Queensland parliament more or less straight into the job of heading up the Australian Banking Association, which then called the Prime Minister's office and, within 24 to 48 hours, the agreement I had with Mr Jones was reneged on by Labor because we can't possibly have million-dollar fines for dodgy bankers who break the law! In fact, even though the law is still there and creates an offence, there is no penalty at all able to be applied to the dodgy bankers who allowed those breaches to occur.

The reason this bill was delayed by Mr Jones, which was lazy of him and an abrogation of his ministerial responsibility, was, in fact, that the big banks were in his ear. They told him not to proceed, so he didn't. I've got to say, taking the side of the big banks instead of the interests of ordinary Australian consumers of banking products is very on brand for the Labor Party. It follows an established pattern of the Labor Party doing as it is bid by big banks, big fossil fuel corporations, big gaming corporations and big entertainment corporations in this country, because this is a government that is captured by vested corporate interests. One of the ways it's captured is that revolving door that I spoke about before, and the other way, of course, is through the institutionalised bribery through political donations in this country.

We will be supporting this bill today because it creates a framework to support consumers to access a range of outcomes, including to switch more easily between utility, insurance, telco and banking providers. There are some problems with it that I outlined in general terms earlier, but this bill does constitute a small but important step to make it easier for Australians to get a better deal for essential services and to improve competition in a range of sectors. But we do urge Labor to prioritise fixing the issues in the Consumer Data Right framework, with particular regard to consumer safety and security and to ensure that small banks and mutuals are not unduly impacted.

I can't speak about banks today without referencing the obscene profits that banks are making and the obscene salaries of the CEOs of the big four banks in this country. Let's be really clear about the level of profit that the big four banks make in this country. We have the Commonwealth Bank, which has just recently released its annual profit; that's just shy of $10 billion. That's pretty good if you've got a truckload of Commonwealth Bank shares in your superannuation fund, which you no doubt earn massive tax concessions on because of the absolute rort that is the superannuation tax framework in this country. Make no mistake, the other three of the big four banks will also book an annual profit in that ballpark this year.

But I want to refer members to the salaries of the CEOs of the big four banks. Mr Matt Comyn, the CEO of CommBank, trousered $7.3 million dollars in the last financial year. Mr Shayne Elliott, the CEO of ANZ, trousered $6.1 million. Mr Ross McEwan, the CEO of NAB, trousered the same amount—$6.1 million. And Westpac's Mr Peter King trousered $5.7 million. You'll note I use the word 'trousered'. I do so deliberately because they're all blokes, of course, like the overwhelming majority of corporate CEOs in this country who are making out like bandits by price gouging ordinary Australian consumers. Most of them are blokes—not all of them, but most of them are.

This is an obscene level of profit that the big four banks are making, and their CEOs are absolutely making out like bandits—$5 million, $6 million, $7 million a year for gouging your consumers. It's no wonder people are lining up to get a hold of senior management jobs in the big banks. It's because they can make out like bandits. These banks are too big to fail in this country. They're basically underwritten by the long-suffering taxpayer. It's one of the lowest risk businesses you could ever conceive of in Australia, running one of the big four banks, because they're too big to fail. The government won't let them fail, so they're a zero-risk profit machine. And they're a zero-risk profit machine, profit factory, because they're able to gouge their consumers.

We saw during the supermarkets inquiry, which the Greens established and led through this chamber, how price gouging is occurring in the supermarket sector. I remember Mr Banducci, the Woolworths CEO, pocketed over $8 million in the last financial year. Coles and Woolworths are booking billon-dollar-plus profits every single year by price gouging Australian shoppers while single mothers are skipping meals to put food on the table for their kids and university students and others are having to dumpster dive to make ends meet.

This country is being run by and for the big corporations, the big corporate establishments in this country and by the big political establishment. The Coles and Woolworths of Australian politics are running this country. They're running it not for the benefit of ordinary Australians who can't put enough food on the table, can't pay their power bills, can't pay their rents and mortgages. It's being run for big corporates and their CEOs, who are making obscene profits and pocketing obscene salaries. There is something grossly wrong in this country where the interests of corporate Australia are prioritised by the political establishment over and above the interests of ordinary Australians. Something is badly, badly wrong.

I say to Australians, if you reckon things are going okay for you at the moment, by all means keep voting for the same old mobs; keep voting for the establishment parties. But, if you want change, you're going to have to vote for it at the next election. And, if you want real change in this country, you're going to have to vote for folks who, like the Australian Greens, are going to come into this place and fight for ordinary Australians and fight against the big corporations. That's what people need to do, and I genuinely believe more and more Australians are coming to understand that there is very little to no difference between the major parties. It is Tweedledum and Tweedledumber over there. If Australians want change, they're going to have to vote for it.