Yesterday, it was revealed that the banking Commission of Inquiry (basically the same as a Royal Commission) being pursued by the Nationals was fake, with a whole bunch of key areas of banking malfeasance likely to be omitted from investigation:
Under the government backbencher’s proposal, the inquiry could elect to skirt any matters currently before the courts and others under investigation by government regulators and law enforcement agencies.
That might curtail the inquiry’s ambit considerably and might rule out evidence from known victims of poor financial advice whose grievances are still subject to legal action or formal investigations.
Weaknesses in anti-money laundering compliance at several banks might also be a no-go zone for the commission of inquiry because of legal actions and ongoing investigations initiated by Austrac.
Governance failures within the Reserve Bank’s note-printing operation might also escape scrutiny because several matters relating to that controversy are due to be heard in the Federal Court in 2018.
And these and other omissions have prompted the Australian Greens to now oppose the National’s proposed private members bill. From The AFR:
The Greens, who along with Labor, the minor parties and independents were expected to co-sponsor Senator O’Sullivan’s bill, suddenly withdrew their support on Tuesday, six days after Senator O’Sullivan released a draft of his bill including wide-ranging terms of reference.
Th Greens argued the terms of reference should also include an examination of executive remuneration, political donations, the “vertical integration” of wealth management and financial services, and the too-big-to-fail, taxpayer-funded guarantee…
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said “we don’t want a Mickey Mouse inquiry” and he accused the Nationals of being motivated by wanting to destroy Mr Turnbull rather than genuinely probe the banks…
As of late Tuesday, he was not disposed to accommodating the Greens’ latest demands and will move a notice of motion on Wednesday calling for debate to begin…
If the Greens refuse to support the bill, Senator O’Sullivan will need 36 votes out of the 71 senators currently present… The three Nationals backbenchers, 25 remaining Labor senators, three members of One Nation, two NXT senators, Derryn Hinch and Fraser Anning all support the inquiry, totalling 35 votes…
In the Lower House, another Nationals MP, apart from Llew O’Brien and George Christensen who have already promised to support the bill, would need to cross the floor if the Greens’ Adam Bandt voted with the government.
I’m a pragmatist and would normally support a flawed inquiry over no inquiry at all. However, we’ll likely get only one crack at the banks, so it is vital that the Commission of Inquiry is as broad-ranging as possible and has the ability to probe the banks from all angles.
The Greens are wise to withhold their support until an all-encompassing terms-of-reference can be formulated.
