Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to my question today.

Senator Cormann told the Senate today that the government's No. 1 responsibility now is to protect Australian citizens. I would argue that that is exactly what the banking royal commission was set up to do. With its 76 recommendations—recommendations which went to reforms to protect small business, to protect Australian farmers, to protect first Australians, to protect lenders, to protect households, to protect mums and dads, to protect consumers of financial advice—it was one of the biggest reforms we have seen in the financial services sector and the economy in this country. There were 76 recommendations. And so extraordinary were the revelations from this royal commission—and so shocked were the Australian public, many media commentators and parliamentarians in this place—that we saw something extraordinary happen the day Commissioner Hayne handed down his recommendations: the Liberal Party, the LNP, said they would legislate those recommendations in full, before they were even released; and the Labor Party pledged the same thing, as did the Greens and other crossbenchers. What other royal commission have we ever seen that happen on? There were 76 recommendations. They were passed down in February last year, in the 45th Parliament. We are now in the 46th Parliament. It is 15 months later and there is no legislation, and no reform has happened in this country following Commissioner Hayne's recommendations.

We know we are going into a deep recession in this country. We know there are going to be difficult times ahead. I would have thought that if Senator Cormann wanted to protect Australians he would legislate these recommendations. Think about this: at least half of the recommendations by Commissioner Hayne were due to be legislated by June this year. That's next month. I presume that Treasury has been working around the clock to get this legislation ready. Indeed, that's exactly what they've told us at estimates. The reason this critical financial reform which is so important to protect Australians has been delayed is that the big end of town, the big banks, the big financial services companies and the big insurance companies have lobbied this government to delay this reform.

If it was true that because of COVID it was impossible for the banks to be able to do this—even though they have had 15 months, including significant consultation with Treasury to this point—we could still legislate those recommendations and this reform but put in effective starting dates six or 12 months down the track. Why don't we lock it in? So many of us are calling for parliament to resume. The Greens will be putting up a motion to do exactly this in June. We can use this opportunity to legislate this reform when it was due to be legislated. If industry is crying, kicking and screaming, then fine; let's make it effective in six months time, but let's get it done.

Who knows when this government is going to go to the next election. Some are speculating that it may be as early as August next year. If we are then delaying the bulk of the royal commission recommendations and legislation until June next year, which is what the Treasurer said, I would argue that that is one parliamentary sitting away from a potential election. Will we even see it in this parliament? It was an election promise by the Liberal Party that they would legislate these recommendations in full. There is no reason that we should be letting big corporations dictate our legislative agenda in the highest chamber in this country. There is no reason at all—except that they have clearly got to this government.

This was non-controversial. It had unanimous support from all political parties in this place. We could get this legislation done in June if we were to recall parliament and do our job. That's what the Greens want to see and that's what the Australian public want to see. We promised them that, after a $60 million royal commission and the shocking revelations and the significant reform that was outlined, we would do that in this parliament. I urge senators to listen to the Greens, recall parliament and get the job done.

Question agreed to.