Labor holds roundtable on banking Royal Commission

LABOR is pushing to extend the Royal Commission into the banking sector, and held a public roundtable to hear stories from affected bank customers in Grovedale this week.

The forum at the Grovedale Neighbourhood Centre featured Shadow Minister for Financial Services Clare O’Neil and Corio federal member Richard Marles. Labor candidate for Corangamite Libby Coker was to host the event, but was delayed by travel.

About 20 victims of banking misconduct and their representatives from as far away as Cairns, Terang, Camperdown, Wycheproof and Horsham attended the event, one of a series of roundtables Labor is holding across Australia.

Ms O’Neil said Labor “can’t run a Royal Commission for the Royal Commission” but the party was calling for the commission to be extended to allow more people to give evidence. An interim report was handed down in late September.

“There were more than 10,000 (written) submissions, but only 27 people have had their stories told,” Ms O’Neil said.

“Today, I can’t take on each of your cases and solve them, I can’t commit to doing that… today’s not so much about necessarily solving what happened to you but more about thinking about the future, what do we need to be thinking about, what does Labor need to be thinking about in the context of the Royal Commission, but more importantly, what should the rules look like? What do you think is going to make banking in this country fairer?”

A man from regional Victoria said financial redress should be part of the commission’s final findings, which are due to be handed down in February.

“What we’ve experienced goes on for a decade… moving forward, do not leave these victims behind.”

A National Australia Bank customer took aim at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) for their lack of enforcement action.

“APRA is a do-nothing regulator, and ASIC is a do-hardly-anything regulator.”