Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens support breaking up the banks because we recognise there is a fundamental conflict of interest at the heart of the banking sector. We've been leading reform in this space. We led the campaign for a royal commission, and we're now leading the campaign to reform the banks. We said it was important to do that back in 2017. Since then, the Productivity Commission has said it too, ASIC has said it too and the royal commission is clearly saying it as well. ASIC says financial advisers to big banks recommend their own products instead of what's best for consumers 75 per cent of the time. If that's not a conflict of interest, I don't know what it is.

It's not enough to just say that we need to break up the banks and let banks focus on being banks. The ACCC needs to be put back in charge. We need a regulator with teeth. We need some real competition in the banking sector, which is why we've advocated for a national low-cost people's bank to restore competition to the mortgage market. Breaking up the banks is a good start, but it's just a start. Only the Greens have a plan to address this issue.