George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Bilyk, the fact is that a lot of very irresponsible and very foolish statements were being made about the Australian financial system. There is no doubt that establishing a banking royal commission was not the government's preferred option, for all the reasons I outlined, but the government made a decision, based entirely on the national interest, that we needed to protect and defend the Australian financial system from some of the foolish and extravagant statements that were being made in the course of this debate. For that reason, the government decided that it would accede to the will of many in this parliament to establish a banking royal commission, with very specific terms of reference and set up in such a way that it won't last forever.