Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Williams is indicating that it was the Nationals who forced him to it.

The reality is that this is a government that even now, as it cuts the funding for ASIC, as it provides a bill here that will provide an additional deputy chairperson, is going to give a $17 billion tax cut to the banks who are before the royal commission.

The bill before us today will provide for an additional deputy chairperson for ASIC as Australia's corporate markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator. We need ASIC to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible, and that, despite the clear deception that's practised by the government around their concern for the rights of Australians to have the banking sector operate in a fair and ethical way, is the reason that we will support this bill, because it does indeed provide the second deputy chairperson to ASIC.