John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I continue to express my concern in the public interest about the unsavoury debt recovery practices of some banks and financial lenders. It is no wonder there is a developing momentum for a class action against the price-gouging actions of financiers. My last advice was that there were 30,000 Australians signed up to that class action. But it is not just about the gouging that occurs when a borrower defaults and is faced with massive penalty interest the likes of which I have never seen before; it is about the bullying tactics undertaken by some lenders. I am keeping a league table now, covering all the major lenders, but there is one particular bank that I am declaring war on, and that is the Rural Bank. It is what is left of Elders, and it is a tragedy that this bank is majority owned—60 per cent—by Bendigo Bank, a community bank. I have been pleading with Bendigo Bank to take some action—in its own interests, because it has a wonderful reputation and a wonderful concern for the community; it is owned by its depositors—to call the Rural Bank to order and to bring some level of accountability to bear for the thuggery and bully tactics that are being employed.

There is one particular debt recovery officer I want to refer to, Malcolm Sparrow. Because I have taken a stand and stood with my constituents against the bank’s bully tactics, he has been out in my constituency bad-mouthing the member for Mallee. I can say this to Malcolm Sparrow: if he wants to pitch the integrity and the vociferous representation I provide to my constituents against his reputation, he is going to come out a very poor third last. He is no higher than the soles of my shoes. This man is a thug and a grub and the sooner he is dismissed out of that organisation the better. This man must have a very tiny mind. He is not satisfied with recommending that the bank move in with lawyers and solicitors; he wants to crush my constituents and constituents in my near neighbours’ electorates of Farrer and Barker. It is like vengeance.

I have been calling on the Australian Bankers Association to remove this particular bank from its membership. I call on all those other responsible lenders who have behaved in a very honourable way to support my call to have the Rural Bank dismissed from the Australian Bankers Association. It does not deserve to be a member. If the other banks do not support me in this call then it will reflect very poorly on them. I again ask Bendigo Bank, which owns 60 per cent of the Rural Bank—and which has six of the 10 board members—to take some action and bring this bank to order.