Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to call out the Labor Party on this absolute cop-out of a decision yesterday. They have rolled over to the big banks yet again, like they did in 1985 when they lifted capital controls and in 1992 when they privatised the Commonwealth Bank. They've effectively got an agreement from the four major banks that they're going keep their branches open until 2027. What a cop-out. That is an absolute insult to the hardworking people out in regional and metropolitan Australia who need to access banking services. Ben Chifley would be rolling in his grave, if he saw the modern Labor Party today. I know you agree with me, Acting Deputy President Sterle; you're an old Chifley man yourself, coming from the working class.

What has happened to the Labor Party? Stop selling out to the big banks. We need more branches in the regions. We need a proper public ban not this postal bank rubbish, whereby little post office franchises are being screwed by the major banks. Yes, it's all very well that they've signed an agreement now. But under the last agreement, the banks went and closed a whole heap more branches, which of course meant that the post offices got more work and the post office itself couldn't actually engage in these transactions for a profit.

The banks are merely shifting costs through Bank@Post. The only party that has a proper solution is the People First Party, which wants a public bank that uses the RBA payment systems that already exist. I know about that because I've actually managed the payment systems in an Australian-listed bank. We need a government insurance office brought back that would also include a government superannuation fund, all under the same roof. We would save billions of dollars to return to the pockets of the Australian people.