James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the limited time we have remaining before the hard marker, I'll see how I go in getting the coalition's position on the record in relation to the Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025. Upfront, I want to say that the coalition will be providing bipartisan support for the passage of this bill because we understand the strategic context in which it arises.

As the Minister for Foreign Affairs has said, we are in a permanent contest in the Pacific for influence with nations such as the People's Republic of China, and it is in Australia's national interest to ensure that the people of the Pacific have choices about the banking services that they use and that, among those choices, they are able to choose trusted, high-quality Australian banking services. It has become apparent in recent years that without government assistance it is likely that Australian banking services in the Pacific would no longer be available.

We do have some reservations about some aspects of this bill which I'll place on the record on behalf of my colleagues in a moment, but those reservations are not so serious that they would stand in the way of us supporting this bill or, indeed, moving amendments, because we have received assurances from the government in relation to those issues. It is very clear that this bill is necessary in the strategic environment that we find ourselves in.

One of the issues identified through the inquiry process is the fact that the bill provides for an uncapped appropriation with no maximum dollar limit and no end date. It was argued by the government that this flexibility was necessary. However, an uncapped appropriation does inevitably reduce parliamentary oversight of future spending and increases potential liabilities from future guarantees. Ultimately, these guarantees are contingent liabilities for the Australian taxpayer, and we did not think that unlimited appropriations should be provided without a very strong justification, especially given ANZ is the largest operator in the region and has already been offered a $2 billion 10-year guarantee. However, we do accept the evidence from Treasury that the risk to Australian taxpayers from these guarantees is very low, and, for this reason, we will not oppose the bill.

In addition, Bank South Pacific is the largest and most widespread bank in the South Pacific, and it is unfortunate that it appears that it was not properly consulted before this bill came forward. The coalition would encourage Treasury to reconsider whether there is more information about the guarantee that could be made publicly available to reassure them about their concerns. There appear to be parts of the agreement that are considered confidential that we believe do not necessarily need to be, and releasing this information could help alleviate Bank South Pacific's concerns and increase public confidence in the process.

We're very proud of the coalition's record in the Pacific, which I will not detail given the limited time that we have today, and I do want to reiterate the coalition's strong bipartisan support for this legislation in the strategic environment that we find ourselves in. We have a very important partnership with our friends and family in the Pacific, and we must stand with them in ensuring that they have access to high-quality, trusted, reliable Australian banking services so that they have choice and are not reliant on others.

Debate interrupted.