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

I don't know where you get those figures from, Senator Gallagher. I am not aware that there is such a number of individuals. I know that a couple of individual backbench members have made that observation but I don't agree with it. What I think the Australian people expect the government to do, rather than waste hundreds of millions of dollars on lawyers' fees on a royal commission that will go for years, achieve nothing in the short term and have doubtful outcomes in the long term, is something much more important, which is to deal immediately with the needs of people who feel they've been ripped off with the banks. That is why, for example, we asked Professor Ramsay to deal with and go through the case load of legacy cases of people who have complained they've been treated badly by the banks, and Professor Ramsay has done that. The government is responding now—not in five years time, but now.