with

STEPHEN JONES MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
MEMBER FOR WHITLAM

This morning Josh Frydenberg has caved to pressure from bank customers, the media and Labor by announcing a new inquiry into bank competition.
 
Labor has been calling for the ACCC to play a bigger role in banking competition, so we welcome today’s announcement in principle but we will work through the detail.
 
Little more than a week ago when Labor called for a bigger role for the ACCC in banking competition, the Government said that would be a distraction so we know that Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg’s hearts are not really in this.
 
With record household debt and stagnant wages under the Liberals, it is clear why families are frustrated at the banks for not passing through interest rate cuts.
 
The big banks are very profitable by international standards - so they shouldn’t be doing the wrong thing by borrowers.
 
Australians need the banking system to be more competitive so that people can get better deals with other banks and financial institutions if they want to shop around.
 
Nobody really trusts the Liberals on banks.
 
The Government has been sitting on a Productivity Commission report on banking competition failure for over 12 months and has done nothing.
 
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg resisted the Banking Royal Commission for two years and voted against it 26 times - now they’re dragging their feet on competition and on implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
 
MONDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2019