Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For more than 30 years, Shalvey Pharmacy has been part of the Chifley community, providing a friendly familiar face and reliable pharmaceutical services to so many in our community. They've also acted as an agent of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, helping locals with banking needs. Sadly, the Commonwealth Bank services associated with this agency were shut on 5 December, meaning local residents, many elderly or disabled, who don't have access to transport won't be able to deposit or withdraw funds at a close, convenient location. At a recent mobile office I held in Shalvey I met with many constituents who were concerned about this removal of services by the Commonwealth Bank.

When the pharmacy found out about the issue, they suggested a Commonwealth Bank ATM inside the pharmacy to assist locals. Unfortunately, that request was denied. If another, unaffiliated ATM was to be installed, a $2 fee would be whacked on top of those services, putting yet another burden on people on very low incomes. The pharmacy started a petition and got over 300 people in just three days to support it. The owners, Moenis and Nermin Toma, have offered to scrap their commission and still offer the service at no cost just to ensure it stays in the community. I've been in contact with the CBA, hoping that they could fix this—still no answer. And these banks wonder why so many people have been clamouring for a royal commission, when they make decisions that hurt people, particularly in low-socioeconomic areas. The CBA have to get their act together and put in an agency to help those residents. And, if they don't, another bank should, to ensure that the needs of people in my area are met.

I also wanted to talk about another issue in relation to the broader economy and the growth of firms, particularly smart start-up firms in our area. There have been two great reports released in the last few weeks. One, Startup Muster 2017, which had over 2,000 respondents—the largest success it has had in responses; it's the fourth time it's been run—shows that business-to-business work is growing and a lot of the start-ups are using other businesses in Australia, providing more spin-offs, but that skills are an issue still, diversity in start-ups is an issue and capital is still an issue.

The other report that was released was the Crossroads 2017 report by StartupAUS, which echoed the remarks about skills and talked about visas in particular. We have a skills shortage of 100,000 people in the ICT sector. We need more talent. The government, amazingly, changed the 457 system without consulting the tech sector, and they're screaming about this. Most of their other initiatives are tanking—the angel investor initiative is hardly being used, their entrepreneur visa is hardly being used, and people are still crying out for support. The government needs to get its act together.