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

Thank you very much, indeed, Senator Georgiou. It's a very important question, and I agree with you. But the issue of the conduct of banks and, in particular, their treatment of a large number of customers—in particular, categories of customers belonging to the vulnerable groups you have mentioned—has been a proper subject of national discussion now for some time. The question is: what can the government most effectively do to address the concerns?

Senator Cameron interjecting—

Senator Cameron over there says there should be a royal commission. The problem with a royal commission is that it will take forever and achieve nothing. That's the problem. It will take forever and achieve nothing—except for the bevy of lawyers who will be able to afford new beach houses on the strength of all the fees that they will charge.

Senator Georgiou, what we are doing is taking action that will be much more effective and immediate. Let me run you through what we are doing. We've set up a new one-stop-shop dispute resolution body to ensure that consumers and small business can access fair compensation straightaway—not years into the future after a royal commission that might go for five years but straightaway. We've introduced new legislation for banking executive accountability to make bank executives more accountable to their customers. We've introduced a major bank levy to ensure a fair contribution to budget repair from institutions that have benefited from our stable financial system. We've strengthened the resources and powers of ASIC, the regulatory body, through an additional $127 million invested in that body and introduced an industry funding model for ASIC. (Time expired)