Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have two further questions and then I'm done. This banking guarantee created for the Australian banks in the Pacific Islands creates a very significant precedent. Wollongong law professor Andy Schmulow, a very impressive person, made a submission to the 2024 RRAT inquiry into bank branch closures—and a very impressive submission it was. His submission cited Reserve Bank Australia figures that indicate that our banks save $3.6 billion a year in funding costs thanks to the taxpayer funded guarantee on bank deposits, a guarantee that was hiked up from $250,000 per account to $1 million per account during the global financial crisis. Do you know how many banks opted out of that guarantee at the time? None. Not one. They all embraced it. They all accepted it. The acceptance of that benefit creates a reciprocal obligation on our banks to give back to the community social licence, the community that has saved them, and continues to save them, $3.6 billion every year.

Minister, this bill creates a new policy, which is that any bank which accepts a bank guarantee from the Australian government must pay a premium to the taxpayers for that guarantee. This is funded by the reduced borrowing costs they receive from the guarantee; is that correct? I'll have the second part of this question after your answer and then I'll be finished.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, if it is good to ask the Pacific banks, which include the ANZ, for a premium for the guarantee, why hasn't your government asked for the same premium from the same banks for their Australian banking guarantee? The Australian taxpayers, everyday men and women of this country, deserve their fair share of the extra profit that their guarantee creates, which could be over $1 billion a year of revenue for your government. These are the world's most profitable banks. The taxpayers are subsidising their borrowing costs. So why don't you ask for a fee for their services in Australia because of the guarantee in Australia?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The guarantee is not a subsidy, nor is it a bailout. It's in the national interest.

Bill agreed to.

Bill reported without amendment; report adopted.