20 March 2023
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission to the Senate Select Committee on Cost of Living’s (Committee) inquiry into the cost of living pressures facing Australians, ways to ease the cost of living and the Government’s fiscal policy response (Inquiry).
Banks are aware of the challenges Australians face in the current inflationary environment, which have arisen from a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, high household savings, pent-up demand, and global factors, including supply chain constraints and the war in Ukraine. To curb inflation, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), alongside other central banks globally, have responded by tightening monetary policy. The increases in the target cash rate have had flow-on effects to the cost of banking and living for Australian consumers.
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The ABA continues to support establishment of the Housing Australia Future Fund as a mechanism to provide a sustainable funding source to support and increase the development of social and affordable housing during a critical period of lower than required housing supply. The ABA acknowledges that other industry factors such as planning, and the cost… Read more »
The ABA acknowledges the work of ARNECC to date in developing the interoperability program. We continue to support the intention of interoperability on the basis that eConveyancing transactions under interoperability are substantively like those under a non-interoperable framework. However, the ABA has significant concerns that the interoperability program will be impacted by the failure to… Read more »
ABA members are committed to the success of Australia’s franchisors and franchisees, who play an important role in our economy.
The ABA supports retention of the Franchising Code of Conduct and the Franchise Disclosure Register and acknowledges the important role these tools have in protecting both franchisors and franchisees, which are often small businesses.
Entering a franchising arrangement is a significant legal and financial undertaking and it is sometimes the case that individuals who are attracted to franchising are also newer to business. Franchisees should be encouraged to undertake due diligence to ensure they are well informed about the risks and responsibilities, as well as their rights, prior to entering into their chosen franchising agreement.