Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025. While this bill may look like a simple technical banking measure, really it's about something much larger. It's about keeping the Pacific connected to the world, safeguarding prosperity and reaffirming our role as a strong partner in the region.

Across the Pacific, access to banking services is under real pressure. Over the past decade, around 80 per cent of correspondent banking links have disappeared. This means it has become harder for people to send money home, harder for businesses to trade, harder for locals to access banking and harder for governments to deliver aid programs and financial flows.

ANZ has already closed 10 branches in the region in just five years. Westpac has limited their services. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has withdrawn from Nauru and smaller institutions have exited the region altogether. These withdrawals affect families, small businesses and entire communities that rely on banking services. They are changes really felt by Pacific towns and villages when the only bank branch shuts in doors. Pacific leaders have told us time and time again that banking access is one of their top priorities. They know that without it cross-border payments dry up, trade dries up and economic security weakens. In the Pacific, in countries like Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, remittances are a vital source of national income.

This bill establishes a Pacific banking guarantee, giving eligible Australian banks the certainty they need to remain active in the region. It creates a special appropriation from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, ensuring that, in the unlikely event of a claim, the Commonwealth can step in immediately and in full. Guarantees are confined to low-risk exposures. Banks will pay a fee for the protection. Independent assessments show the likelihood of a payout is very low. This is a balanced and carefully designed mechanism to keep financial services in place.

The urgency on this is clear. The Commonwealth has already reached a landmark agreement with ANZ, the bank with the largest Pacific footprint, covering nine nations: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu. This 10-year, $2 billion guarantee secures ANZ's presence in those countries.

ANZ has made strong commitments in return: investing a further $50 million in modernising its Pacific banking systems, continuing to facilitate around a quarter of all transactions into the region, sustaining the correspondent banking limits that allow funds to flow through the region reliably and transparently, and maintaining fee-free remittance services through its retail digital channels for the full life of the guarantee—meaning it won't cost a cent to send money where it's needed. These commitments go directly to the needs of people in the region, lowering costs, improving access and keeping the financial system open, honest and connected. Keeping Australian institutions engaged means keeping Pacific nations connected to banks that are regulated to the highest of standards, accountable to independent authorities and embedded in the values of openness and fairness.

This message was echoed just last week in Nauru when my colleague Assistant Minister Nita Green opened the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. She underlined that losing banking access has serious consequences for families, communities and governments alike. This was a milestone in our shared journey of partnership, resilience and regional cooperation, as well as a significant achievement under the Nauru-Australia Treaty. That's why Australia is working with banks and Pacific governments to maintain these services. For our Pacific friends, it is about building a safer, more stable and more prosperous region. It's about ensuring that Pacific workers in Australia can send money home to support their families. It's about enabling governments and businesses to trade, invest and grow. It's about protecting our region from economic volatility.

Foreign Minister Wong has often said that Australia's role in the Pacific is to listen and to respond to the priorities of our neighbours. Access to banking is one of their priorities. By supporting this guarantee, we are acting on what Pacific leaders have asked for. It's practical, targeted support to keep their economies resilient. The banking guarantee is just one part of our government's wider engagement with the Pacific. It complements the new Nakamal Agreement with Vanuatu, which responds to Pacific priorities such as climate change and mobility. It sits alongside the $125 million REnew Pacific program, which is delivering renewable energy projects, improving energy security and creating jobs. It is consistent with our defence cooperation, including the exercise Pacific Partnership 2025 and joint work on disaster relief and humanitarian support.

All of these initiatives reinforce the same objective—strengthening the resilience, stability and prosperity of the Pacific region. The Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025 is a careful and practical measure. It underpins the financial stability of the region, supports continued access to banking services and strengthens our role as a reliable partner of Pacific nations. For families and businesses in the Pacific, access to banking is essential. It means being able to save for education, send money to relatives or secure credit to keep a business running. This bill ensures that Australian banks can keep providing those services in a way that is sustainable and consistent with our national interest.