Labor re-hashes ‘terms of reference’ from own dissenting report

Sydney, 29 August 2016: After four months of silence on its terms of reference for a royal commission into banking, Labor has instead cut and pasted part of its May dissenting report from the PJC inquiry into impaired bank loans.

“In regurgitating the dissenting report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services, Labor has suggested terms for a royal commission that are vague and open ended,” Australian Bankers’ Association Chief Executive Steven Münchenberg said today.

“The rest of the PJC didn’t agree with Labor’s terms and found no “evidence that demonstrates that there was widespread or systematic illegal behaviour by banks”.

“Having said that, the banking industry acknowledges there have been issues and we are working to fix those with our industry reform package we released in April,” Mr Münchenberg said

“An independent review is being conducted by a former Australian Public Service Commissioner into how bank staff are paid.

“Banks are also addressing community concerns about bad apples moving around the industry, the handling of customer complaints and the treatment of whistleblowers.”

ENDS

Contact: Stephanie Arena 0477 470 677 or Nic Frankham 0435 963 913