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

It is in the interests of all Australians, including all Australian consumers, that we have a strong financial system underpinned by strong, well-capitalised banks, well regulated, in particular through strong prudential regulation—and we do. That is absolutely in the national interest. But, as I said a moment ago, in a system in which there are literally millions upon millions of accounts and account holders, of course there will be complaints from time to time, and those complaints should be investigated, and, when mistakes have been made, those mistakes should be exposed. But it is one thing to say that and it is another thing to recklessly suggest, as your question does, that Australians should lack confidence in our financial system. We should have confidence in our financial system, and where there are problems they should be addressed by the appropriate mechanism. (Time expired)