Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and once again I thank the shadow Treasurer for his question and his point of order—not much gets past him! It was a remarkable display of intellectual agility in this parliament today; I am glad we have been treated to it by the shadow Treasurer. Let me quote the words of one of his coalition colleagues. I presume they are not so fundamentally divided today that they are unwilling to listen to each other’s words. Senator Williams’s words go on. He said in respect of banking:

Treasurer Wayne Swan is saying vote with their feet. How can you vote with your feet when you’ve got to pay an exit fee to get out of your loan? The sooner the government abolishes exit fees and also establishment fees, the banks can still add those fees onto their margins, then we can have proper competition in the banking industry.

Proposition No. 1: competition is good; proposition No. 2: competition leads to better products for consumers. I do not understand what part of those two propositions the shadow Treasurer is struggling with so badly.

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