Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

It is clear that Senator Keneally and the Labor Party are stuck in the past. They are very much stuck in the past. The very sensible comments made by former Prime Minister Turnbull the other day are 100 per cent consistent with the comments he made as Prime Minister in relation to the banking royal commission after the inquiry got underway, entirely consistent with the comments that our now Prime Minister made as the then Treasurer in relation to the royal commission after it was underway and entirely consistent with the comments that I made some months ago in relation to the calling of the banking royal commission.

Let me make a number of observations. Firstly, it was the Liberal-National government that called the royal commission, it was the Liberal-National government that determined the terms of reference, it was the Liberal-National government that chose Commissioner Hayne—who did an outstanding job, as is widely recognised—to conduct this royal commission and it is the Liberal-National coalition which is now taking action in relation to the 76 recommendations that were made by Commissioner Hayne. What have we had from the Labor Party? All we've had from the Labor Party are weasel words. Following the Shorten precedent, the shadow Treasurer said, 'We will back all of the recommendations sight unseen.' Even before the report was delivered he said, 'We'll be supporting them, whatever they are.' But guess what happened after the report was released? Instead of saying, 'We'll support all the recommendations,' Labor said, 'We support all the recommendations in principle.' We still don't know what Labor's position is.

What the Australian people can be absolutely confident about is that this government will continue to take action protecting consumers and making sure that we can continue to have a strong, stable and competitive financial system to underpin our future economic success. (Time expired)