Senate debates Questions without Notice
Banking and Financial Services
Penny Wong SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs
2:00 pm
I'll make a few points. The first point is a point about transparency. We as a government do think that it's important that the charges that people are paying are transparent and predictable, and that was not the case. I would also make the point Australians were paying around $1.6 billion a year in surcharges. I would also make the point that, as part of these reforms, there are lower fees now charged to process transactions, and the saving from that to business will be about $910 million. We're very conscious of the challenges that small business faces. I would make the point that 84 per cent of businesses did not surcharge before these changes. Obviously, those businesses are benefiting from lower fees charged to process transactions. And the major banks have already announced reductions in merchant fees. Westpac has cut fees by 41 basis points, and other major banks have also cut—
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