Scott Morrison says the government will force the banks to pay an additional $121m in an effort to head off Labor’s call for a royal commission. All the developments from Canberra
3.21am BST
I mentioned earlier today something about precedents. The government is concerned about the precedent of a senate inquiry calling a cabinet minister (Arthur Sinodinos) before it, concerns that would sound a lot more valid had the government not itself opened the door by setting up royal commissions that required two former Labor prime ministers, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, to turn up and answer questions.
It’s a bit the same with this sortie on the banks. Scott Morrison over the past few days has been intent on making an argument that royal commissions deliver nothing concrete, an argument which rather exposes the government’s past practice in relation to the royal commissions Tony Abbott established essentially to settle score with his political opponents. Royal commissions are terrible unless they are our royal commissions.
2.40am BST
A conversation that has just happened between myself and Magic Mike.
KM: “You’ve gone all moody.”
2.33am BST
Readers with me earlier today know the prime minister got a question about the Kidman sale on Adelaide radio this morning. Morrison told reporters just before he’s made an interim order to prevent it from proceeding for a period of 90 days from the date it was gazetted.
This is what he said about that decision this morning.
This provides time for me to consider the national interest implications of this complex and sensitive acquisition. I intend to do this on the Kidman matter as I did on the previous consideration of the transaction.
National interest considerations of proposed transactions should not and will not be rushed on an important matter such as this.
2.24am BST
Bill Shorten says Labor is not going to let go of this royal commission issue. A royal commission can get to the heart of the matter in terms of the facts, it can get to the bottom of a culture of arrogance, it can get to the bottom of whether banks put people or profits first.
Now, I’ll go back and clean up on Kidman and Co before I pick apart the implications of today’s developments on the banks.
2.18am BST
Shorten is asked why he did nothing about the banks when he was an assistant treasurer in a Labor government. He says the government always wants to talk about the past. He wants to talk about the future.
(Except when he wants to talk about the past, but let’s not digress).
2.17am BST
Bill Shorten
Mr Turnbull has to explain to the victims of financial frauds, to the victims of poor banking culture, why he is so desperate not to expose the truth in banking.
Now, banks are very powerful institutions and they play a very important role and we want to have the best possible banking sector – but when an individual consumer has a complaint or concern it’s a David and Goliath battle.
2.15am BST
Morrison then works through the government’s position on the Kidman and Co sale, which is interesting, and I’ll come back to it, but I need to press on just for a moment.
The Labor leader Bill Shorten and his deputy Tanya Plibersek are outside a legal centre in inner city Sydney that deals with a lot of clients with claims in financial services. they are speaking to reporters.
Mr Turnbull today has sold out Australians in favour of the big banks. He’s just restoring the funding they cut.
2.11am BST
Q: Do you regret in retrospect trying to undo the consumer protection laws that Labor put in?
Kelly O’Dwyer
That’s simply - with the greatest of respect ... that’s simply not correct. We haven’t tried to undo consumer protections. What we are doing today is we are strengthening consumer protections.
2.10am BST
Q: There’s lot of people out there who hate the banks because of what has happened to them with scandals, they’ve been ripped off on insurance and so forth. What do you say to those people that - can you give a guarantee that these changes will put an end to this sort of practice? How sure can you be?
Scott Morrison
For those people who have been affected by dodgy dealings, by fraudulent conduct, by malpractice and misconduct in the financial services industry, we are puttingy ou front and centre in our response.
We are making sure that the consumer is front and centre, that you will be dealt with compassionately and you will be dealt with effectively so that you will be able to move on with your lives.
2.08am BST
Morrison is asked whether this user pays applies in perpetuity. It does.
That would be user-paid, yes. That’s the whole point of this transition. This puts Asic on a much more sustainable footing.
2.07am BST
Morrison again draws a contrast between the government’s response and Labor’s response. Full beat down follows.
The financial systems inquiry report today shows is a government that is focused on the practical issues that are addressing the real concerns of people who are being affected by what has been happening in particular cases in our banking and financial system. Now the alternative to that is a leader of the opposition who is cynically exploiting the concerns and fears of Australians when it comes to how that’s been impacting on their daily lives.
He’s politicising their pain and I think this is a reckless way for a leader of the opposition to behave who pretends to think that he can be responsible for a $1.6 trillion economy.
2.04am BST
Q: Treasurer, have you consulted the banks on these changes and are they supportive?
Morrison gives a very long answer which I’ll cut short to the relevant word. Yes, is the answer.
I’m doing my job when it comes to doing those things.
We want to make sure that the consumer is at the heart of that and that is exactly why we are taking the time to work through exactly what powers will be needed and make sure that the entire financial services industry is covered and that there are no people who are falling through the cracks.
1.58am BST
The deeply obvious question that arises from outsourcing the funding of the regulator to the banks.
Q: Treasurer, you say the banks will pay but won’t the banks just pass this on in higher fees and charges so it ends up being the customers, the people you’re trying to protect, who end up paying?
I would be furious if I thought this was being passed on by the banks and you can be absolutely assured they will be .. they’re getting that message from me, and in fact would already have got that message from me.
1.54am BST
Q: Doesn’t this suite of measures amount to an admission that Asic hasn’t been up to the task?
Scott Morrison
What it amounts to is we have always been conscious of the need to strengthen and improve what is happening in Asic.
1.52am BST
Next question is why is the current Asic chairman not being appointed for a full term. He’s got an 18 month extension. Morrison says Greg Medcraft is the one right now best placed to go and implement these reforms and we don’t want to waste time with any transition or otherwise.
1.51am BST
To questions now. Why are there more reviews being announced today? How long will they take?
Scott Morrison
The work of improving your cop on the beat never stops and you’re always working on it and always seeking to improve it.
As the son of a police officer, I know that to be the case in normal law enforcement areas.
We have announced a series of actions today and funded them and the banks will be funding them. Bill Shorten wants to spend your money to fund his political exercise which won’t get outcomes for people, it will just get a political outcome for Bill Shorten.
1.46am BST
Assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer says the resourcing outlined today will give Asic the capability to intervene before serious harm is done rather than simply cleaning up the mess after the event.
1.44am BST
The treasurer rounds out thusly.
This is what practical, effective targeted government looks like and that’s how we are responding to these issues of real concern to Australians.
But there’s no point talking about the concerns of Australians unless you’re prepared to put in place the actions that will address their concerns which is what we’ve done today.
1.43am BST
Scott Morrison
We will be exempting Asic from the public service act when it comes to their employment practices. This is important to ensure that Asic, like other regulatory authorities has the ability to recruit from the market: people who have the experience and knowledge of practices in that sector to make them an even more effective regulator.
We will be recommending that the financial services ombudsman changes its thresholds to provide greater access for treatment of claims – and compliance and this is something that needs to be taken up by the financial services ombudsman and that would require legislation from the government which they will receive – and we will await their advice on how they seek to change those thresholds.
1.40am BST
Morrison says the government will require the banks will pay an additional $121m to increase the resources of Asic, to be a stronger cop on the beat. (This is the money the government took out of Asic, so it’s restoring that funding with the banks picking up the tab.)
The treasurer says there will be $61m for enhanced data analytics and surveillance capabilities and $57m for increased surveillance and investigation and prosecutorial capacities to pursue these matters.
We want an Asic that leans forward and we want an Asic that actually prosecutes and takes those matters up.
1.36am BST
Morrison is currently brandishing a copy of the Murray review into financial systems, and the capability review into Asic, to demonstrate the government is not a Johnny-come-lately on banking regulation.
This is what a serious review of the financial system looks like.
1.34am BST
The treasurer Scott Morrison and the assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer are standing up now in the Blue Room. Morrison looks slightly out of breath.
Scott Morrison
When you address matters in your banking and financial system, you do it in a disciplined way, you do it in an orderly, way, you don’t do it in a reckless or populist way, you do it in with way that addresses the very real issues that have to be considered in these matters.
1.29am BST
The Asic package is coming up.
1.15am BST
Election underway in all but name. A prime minister and children inside ..
1.07am BST
No portent here of any kind. Complete coincidence that a child in a trouble shirt materialises in front of the prime minister.
12.46am BST
Yes, I’m now getting a number of messages from folks whom I assume to be public servants in the ether who have been unable to watch the webcast of the prime minister’s address. I’ve directed the feedback to where it needs to go.
Ping @TurnbullMalcolm https://t.co/k7q7HdGQGo
12.40am BST
Every day I’m buffering.
@murpharoo @guardian its streaming live to the APS but the buffering is so bad its unwatchable. Using the new #nbn? Net speeds are a problem
12.39am BST
Turnbull is now taking questions from the floor.
A public servant from immigration points out that innovative policy requires risk taking, but the media cycle is all about gotcha moments. How do you navigate that?
The obligation is to do the right thing by the Australian people. This is how the real world operates, every business is constantly calibrating ... (if things don’t work) they change them. Organisms that are not changing are dead.
I’m certainly in favour of targets. If you have a target you have to report on it and if you are missing it people will ask why.
Mentoring, role models, flexibility are very very important elements. Men have to be strong champions of change.
12.28am BST
This is quite an interesting speech from Turnbull. He says the public service has to prioritise collaboration. He urges his audience to think flexibility about policy, to have the capacity to know various policies are or aren’t working, and respond accordingly; to strike a balance between the insights of senior people and the ideas of young, tech savvy recruits. The prime minister says the APS needs to champion continuous improvement: the government has high expectations of its advisers, but also recognises respectfully the commitment of people who often dedicate a whole professional lifetime to serving the Australian public. I’m sure these words might seem a bit glib to a public servant sitting in the audience, battered by the impact of efficiency dividends and constant budget cuts, but there’s some interesting concepts in the speech.
12.21am BST
The prime minister is currently talking to public servants in Canberra.
I can tell you that my government knows and respects the true value of the Australian public service. We know that we are fortunate to have at our disposal the knowledge, the experience, the passion of people who’ve chosen to serve the government of the day and, in turn, the Australian community who put them there.
12.12am BST
Another interesting story from Gareth about the outlook for global growth. In a speech in New York on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank governor, Glenn Stevens, has warned that the inability of governments and central banks to lift global growth prospects is the “biggest vulnerability” facing the world’s financial system today. “He says global growth must be Australia’s focus but the country also needs to realise that central banks are running out of firepower and government policies must start carrying more of the burden.”
Stevens touched on the subject of helicopter money. If this is a new concept to you, it basically means central banks providing stimulus direct to people’s bank accounts in an effort to tempt them to spend. This idea is gaining currency in countries where growth is low and there’s no room to move with interest rates. But Stevens doesn’t sound like a fan of the concept. “Stevens said he did not believe economic conditions were that desperate, yet, and governments should still be focusing on funding growth-enhancing infrastructure projects while borrowing costs were so low.”
11.52pm BST
To other stories in the news cycle, an interesting story from my colleague Gareth Hutchens, who reports that new research has revealed 76 of Australia’s biggest multinationals pay an average effective tax rate of just 16.2% – half the corporate tax rate. “It has also discovered the commonwealth government lost $5.4bn in potential tax revenue in 2013 and 2014 from those same companies, as they shifted billions of dollars in profits offshore. Corporate tax experts from the University of Technology, Sydney, have worked with the activist group GetUp! to examine the financial records of the top 100 multinational corporations with operations in Australia. They say large pharmaceutical corporations are paying the lowest effective tax rate at just 5.7%, compared with 7.5% for hi-tech corporations and 20% for energy corporations. Australia’s official corporate tax rate is 30%.”
11.45pm BST
The ABC has been playing these new ads this morning, and they certainly hit home.
Porter is accompanied at this press conference by Michaelia Cash, minister for women.
In terms of the campaign itself, it’s very much targeted at those people who are influences, whether they are parents, whether they’re teachers, whether they’re friends.
The research shows that coaches are real influences when it comes to setting an example. And what the research also confirms, as minister Porter has said, we need to stop accepting or excusing disrespectful behaviour towards women and girls.
11.38pm BST
Down in the Blue Room, the social services minister, Christian Porter, is unveiling a new $30m campaign to tackle family violence.
Christian Porter
The point of the ads is to break habitual behaviour and responses, particularly those that we end up teaching to young men and boys, which all of the research tells us are a foundation stone for later behaviour which results in violence being occasioned against women.
So the notion is, in essence, this: if you have a situation where one in six women experience physical or sexual violence and the research tells us we have a concurrent situation where one in four young people who don’t think it’s serious if a guy, who is a normally quiet fellow, hits his partner when he is drunk, then those two outcomes must be linked.
11.31pm BST
Readers on the blog yesterday know lots of motions passed the Senate late on Tuesday. Here’s another one that Murph didn’t get to last night.
The Senate ordered the government to produce all the documents it held in relation to its contractors running the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres.
11.28pm BST
Just in case the Kidman sale was out of the blue for some readers – I don’t think I had the chance to stretch to it yesterday – Australia’s largest landholder, S Kidman & Co, has agreed to sell the company to China’s Dakang Australia Holdings and the locally listed Australian Rural Capital Ltd for $370.7m. Under the deal, Dakang Australia plans to acquire 80% of Kidman while ARC is looking to take the remaining 20% stake – subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
11.25pm BST
The bottom line on submarines was a decision shortly, but no clarity about whether it’s pre-election or post-election.
11.21pm BST
Are we going to see good news on submarines, the prime minister is asked? Turnbull says an announcement on submarines will be made shortly. I’m not going to be drawn on dates.
Q: Can we reasonably anticipate good news as South Australians?
It’s kind of you to inquire.
11.19pm BST
“Real Julia” is the next question. Where is the old Malcolm, the prime minister is asked. Will we see more of the old Malcolm after the coming election?
The prime minister says he’s not going to run a commentary on himself. But he’s still in favour of same sex marriage and he’ll vote yes at a plebiscite. He’s still a republican.
11.15pm BST
Next question is on the Kidman sale. Does it give you any concern philosophically, the prime minister is asked, selling a major agricultural asset to foreigners?
The prime minister says the government looks at these transactions very very carefully. He says foreign investment is important and where it’s not contrary to the national interest it should proceed.
Remember we do benefit from foreign investment.
11.12pm BST
The prime minister is asked about today’s banking announcement. Is this the result of backbench concern about Labor’s proposal for a royal commission?
Malcolm Turnbull says he’s already talked tough to the banks.
The customer has to be at the centre of everything they do. They are a business that is built on trust. My focus has been on getting action here. This is not a response to anything that’s happened recently – this is an issue we’ve been addressing very methodically.
11.09pm BST
Malcolm Turnbull opens his Adelaide radio interview by noting how glad he is to be on radio, where he can talk to owner drivers who are back at work courtesy of the government abolishing that wicked tribunal in the special parliamentary sitting. Heellllooooo owner drivers! (That last bit is me, not the prime minister).
11.04pm BST
The prime minister is coming up on radio in Adelaide. The Labor leader Bill Shorten has done breakfast television this morning.
Shorten was asked about Labor’s chances at the election.
We are the underdog. To use the horse racing analogy, we are coming into the home stretch. We have policies, passion and we are determined to provide a competition for the Australian people and it will be choices about policies which affect people, not just the usual political games.
We believe we can win ... we have a real chance. It is about having policies. I think people want to see more than ... the superficial personality politics.
We think regulators, the exciting cop on the beat regulators of the bank should be properly funded. The truth of the matter is nothing less than a royal commission will be satisfactory. The banks don’t want a royal commission and Mr Turnbull doesn’t want a royal commission but there are tens and thousands of customers who have been ripped off.
We hoped things would get better but they haven’t so I do believe that a royal commission with its widespread powers will get to the bottom of it.
10.55pm BST
Good morning good people and welcome to Wednesday in Canberra. As I made my way into the parliament early this morning, I was almost mown down by senators heading out of the building to the airport. Yes, the special sitting of parliament is over. We’ve now entered the pre-budget/election-without-an-election period that will characterise the next couple of weeks.
Despite the departure of our elected representatives I’m powering on with Politics Live today for two reasons: the government will unveil its riposte to Labor’s campaign for a banking royal commission mid-morning and we need to wash up the sum of the past few days. I’m glad to have your company.
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