5 years ago
Bank CEO hearings, Banking Royal Commission, AFP raid
CLARE O’NEIL MP
CLARE O’NEIL, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES: Good afternoon everyone, my name’s Clare O’Neil and I’m the Shadow Minister for Financial Services, and I’m here with Matt Thistlethwaite and Matt Keogh who are two members of the Economics Committee. We’ve spent the morning talking with the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank about some of the issues that are affecting people around this country as we grapple with what has been a horrible period of bank misconduct. We heard Matt Comyn this morning say some of the right things. He says he’s sorry, he says he acknowledges that there’s been serious misconduct, but the time for words is over and it is now time for action. What we want to see is justice, especially for those people who, over the last 10 years or so, have been victims of very serious bank misconduct. Now, Labor believes that these bank victims deserve a right to be a part of this conversation. We know that more than 10,000 people have made submissions to the Banking Royal Commission. Just 27 have had the opportunity to have their say. Now these people are entitled to tell their stories. The three of us here have met with more bank victims, I believe, than Matt Comyn has met with. He told us today that he has met with 10 bank victims so far. I have probably met with more Commonwealth Bank victims than the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank, and that is not good enough. What we want to see from these bank CEOs is not more words about how sorry they are for the misconduct that they now admit has occurred. We want to see action, and we want to see justice for the people who have lost their homes, lost their farms, and lost their livelihoods. Any questions? JOURNALIST: Obviously action will be what matters, but from what you’ve heard so far, do you think that the Commonwealth Bank’s plan to turn things around is enough? O’NEIL: We heard some good words from Matt Comyn this morning about how he wants to see some changes within his institution, but we’re yet to see the action that’s required to make a difference to the people who have lost out as a consequence of the misconduct that’s occurred. Now, one of the disturbing things we heard this morning is that the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank has met with 10 bank victims. It is crucial that he sit down with the people who have lost their farms, who have lost in some instances family members, because of a consequence of the actions of the institution that he represents.
So we are asking for these big banks to look backward now to the people who have been affected by the misconduct they admit occurred, and start to make restitution with some of those people. JOURNALIST: And what do you think some of those people who you’ve been meeting with would think about what they’ve heard today? O’NEIL: Well, I’ve been spending a lot of my time in the last fortnight meeting with people who are affected by bank misconduct, and frankly they do not feel calmed, they do not feel happy, with the words that are coming out of the CEOs’ mouths at the moment. It is fine to admit that there has been bank misconduct, it is fine to hear that the banks are sorry about that, but actions speak louder than words, and there are thousands of people around this country who are at the end of what we accept now is misconduct in the banking sector. They need to be properly compensated and properly restituted, and we are waiting from the banks to see action on those matters. JOURNALIST: Is there anything you found particularly surprising in the hearing this morning? O’NEIL: I would like to see more of these bank CEOs spending time with the people who have been affected by misconduct that these CEOs admit happened in their institutions. Over the past few weeks I’ve met with people who’ve lost farms that have been in their family for generations. I’ve met with people who have tried to commit suicide because of bank misconduct. I’ve met with people who have lost their homes, people who have been rendered homeless when they have done nothing wrong. When they have been victims of bank misconduct. Now it is time for these CEOs to get out of their fancy offices and go and speak to some of the people who have been affected by these problems. I truly believe that would be a powerful experience for these CEOs, and more importantly, will deliver justice eventually to the people who have been affected by these problems. JOURNALIST: Do you think some of these CEOS, or victims would like to see jail terms for these CEOs, not just banks but other *inaudible*? O’NEIL: One of the most common things I hear from not just bank victims but ordinary Australians is their deep sense of frustration that no one ever seems to be held accountable when we know that wrongdoing has occurred in these institutions. Now Bill Shorten said the other day: if one of us steals from a bank, we go to jail, but it feels like if the bank steals from you, the banker ends up getting a promotion and a gold watch at the end of their career. Now that’s just not good enough, we should have one justice system that works for everyone, and I acknowledge that up until now, we need to do more to make sure that bankers are responsible for the misconduct that they are telling us has occurred in their institutions, because I can tell you there are victims at the other end and they are bearing the consequences of those mistakes. JOURNALIST: So do you think that a jail term is in order? O’NEIL: I think that we need to look at much tougher penalties for bankers, and we need to have people held more personally responsible for wrongdoing that they acknowledge has occurred, because people I have met with have been caught up in sometimes longer than a decade of legal battles, when they’ve done nothing wrong, the person who wronged them often ends up not being accountable for that conduct, and that is wrong. Okay, I might just make a quick comment if I could about what’s emerging in Home Affairs. We understand there’s a raid that’s been conducted on the Department. I don’t know a lot about the detail of the raid but I do want to say this: Peter Dutton has some very serious questions to answer still about his role in the au pair saga. Now Labor believes it is probable he lied to the Australian parliament about this. He told us that he didn’t have any connection with the two families to whom he gave an au pair visa arrangement, and we know that that ultimately wasn’t the case. Now instead of fessing up, and being accountable, we’ve instead got Peter Dutton’s Department conducting raids about the whistleblower. And what I don’t want to see here is a pattern of behaviour where we see the Home Affairs Minister taking action against people who are divulging information that is probably in the public interest, when it’s him that has a case to answer. Thank you very much.
ENDS
So we are asking for these big banks to look backward now to the people who have been affected by the misconduct they admit occurred, and start to make restitution with some of those people. JOURNALIST: And what do you think some of those people who you’ve been meeting with would think about what they’ve heard today? O’NEIL: Well, I’ve been spending a lot of my time in the last fortnight meeting with people who are affected by bank misconduct, and frankly they do not feel calmed, they do not feel happy, with the words that are coming out of the CEOs’ mouths at the moment. It is fine to admit that there has been bank misconduct, it is fine to hear that the banks are sorry about that, but actions speak louder than words, and there are thousands of people around this country who are at the end of what we accept now is misconduct in the banking sector. They need to be properly compensated and properly restituted, and we are waiting from the banks to see action on those matters. JOURNALIST: Is there anything you found particularly surprising in the hearing this morning? O’NEIL: I would like to see more of these bank CEOs spending time with the people who have been affected by misconduct that these CEOs admit happened in their institutions. Over the past few weeks I’ve met with people who’ve lost farms that have been in their family for generations. I’ve met with people who have tried to commit suicide because of bank misconduct. I’ve met with people who have lost their homes, people who have been rendered homeless when they have done nothing wrong. When they have been victims of bank misconduct. Now it is time for these CEOs to get out of their fancy offices and go and speak to some of the people who have been affected by these problems. I truly believe that would be a powerful experience for these CEOs, and more importantly, will deliver justice eventually to the people who have been affected by these problems. JOURNALIST: Do you think some of these CEOS, or victims would like to see jail terms for these CEOs, not just banks but other *inaudible*? O’NEIL: One of the most common things I hear from not just bank victims but ordinary Australians is their deep sense of frustration that no one ever seems to be held accountable when we know that wrongdoing has occurred in these institutions. Now Bill Shorten said the other day: if one of us steals from a bank, we go to jail, but it feels like if the bank steals from you, the banker ends up getting a promotion and a gold watch at the end of their career. Now that’s just not good enough, we should have one justice system that works for everyone, and I acknowledge that up until now, we need to do more to make sure that bankers are responsible for the misconduct that they are telling us has occurred in their institutions, because I can tell you there are victims at the other end and they are bearing the consequences of those mistakes. JOURNALIST: So do you think that a jail term is in order? O’NEIL: I think that we need to look at much tougher penalties for bankers, and we need to have people held more personally responsible for wrongdoing that they acknowledge has occurred, because people I have met with have been caught up in sometimes longer than a decade of legal battles, when they’ve done nothing wrong, the person who wronged them often ends up not being accountable for that conduct, and that is wrong. Okay, I might just make a quick comment if I could about what’s emerging in Home Affairs. We understand there’s a raid that’s been conducted on the Department. I don’t know a lot about the detail of the raid but I do want to say this: Peter Dutton has some very serious questions to answer still about his role in the au pair saga. Now Labor believes it is probable he lied to the Australian parliament about this. He told us that he didn’t have any connection with the two families to whom he gave an au pair visa arrangement, and we know that that ultimately wasn’t the case. Now instead of fessing up, and being accountable, we’ve instead got Peter Dutton’s Department conducting raids about the whistleblower. And what I don’t want to see here is a pattern of behaviour where we see the Home Affairs Minister taking action against people who are divulging information that is probably in the public interest, when it’s him that has a case to answer. Thank you very much.
ENDS