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Coalition strengthens corporate regulator to head off calls for a banking royal commission – politics live
Coalition says it will make banks pay $121m in attempt to stop calls for royal commission – politics live
(35 minutes later)
2.04am BST
02:04
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.
Q: Did you phone the CEOs of the banks this week or your office? And on the idea of the tribunal, one of the problems is currently that many dissatisfied customers say the banks string their complaints out too long, that they effectively hope they run out of money or, quite frankly, die before they solve things. Would you look at giving this tribunal (stronger powers)?
Morrison says it’s everyone’s job to engage with all the stakeholders in the sector and you can be assured I am regularly put things to the banks in terms of they need to do.
I’m doing my job when it comes to doing those things.
On the tribunal, Kelly O’Dwyer says:
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
01:58
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?
Morrison says he doesn’t believe that will be the case.
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.
(Fingers have been waggled at the banks. So noted. I’d have a question about capture too if the banks are paying for the regulator, but sadly I’m not there, I’m talking to you good people.)
1.54am BST
01:54
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.
Morrison is asked when he got the recommendations he’s acting on today – before or after the debate Labor sparked about the royal commission? He doesn’t answer that directly.
1.52am BST
01:52
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
01:51
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.
In case we all missed it, Morrison thumps his own populist theme. The banks pay. repeat, the banks pay.
Scott Morrison
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
01:46
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
01:44
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
01:43
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
01:40
"We want an Asic that leans forward .."
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.
The Asic boss has had his term extended and, in addition, the government will be appointing an additional commissioner to ASIC who has special expertise in prosecution.
Scott Morrison
We want an Asic that leans forward and we want an Asic that actually prosecutes and takes those matters up.
1.36am BST
01:36
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
01:34
The government unveils its package on the banks
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
1.29am BST
01:29
01:29
The Asic package is coming up.
The Asic package is coming up.
1.15am BST
1.15am BST
01:15
01:15
Election underway in all but name. A prime minister and children inside ..
Election underway in all but name. A prime minister and children inside ..
... and a demo outside.
... and a demo outside.
1.07am BST
01:07
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
00:46
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
00:40
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
00:39
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 prime minister says you develop policy which is your best assessment in the circumstances. If it doesn’t work, dump it. If you see good things somewhere else, then plagarise them.
Malcolm Turnbull
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.
Next question is from a foreign affairs official who picks up on the PM’s comments about women in the executive. Is he in favour of targets?
Malcolm Turnbull
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.
He says role models are very important. In his government, Julie Bishop and Marise Payne are role models. Michaelia Cash in employment is showing great leadership. He says managers need to look at road blocks to equality, and remove the barriers.
Mentoring, role models, flexibility are very very important elements. Men have to be strong champions of change.
Updated
at 12.42am BST
12.28am BST
00:28
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
00:21
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.
With that said, Turnbull says the public service needs to prioritise developing leadership skills and it also needs to do more to ensure gender equality at the executive level. Part of that is creating a culture that allows employees to work flexibly, using technology, to ensure they achieve a reasonable work life balance.
Malcolm Turnbull quotes Jack Ferguson, former deputy premier in New South Wales, father of the Labor brothers Martin and Laurie, who once told him that peace on the home front is worth 10% on the basic wage.
That gets a laugh in the room.
12.12am BST
00:12
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.”
Just an aside. If you listen to what passes for an economic debate in Australia at the political level in Australia, you do notice a certain disconnect in content. There are big, serious, important debates at the global level that aren’t really penetrating in this country at all. We are still locked in sound bites, signifying very little.
11.52pm BST
23:52
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%.”
Updated
at 11.59pm BST
11.45pm BST
23:45
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.
When you see the ads, you will see the scenarios put together. For example, when a woman or girl has been hurt, often the first response is: “what did she do that was wrong?” We go straight to the woman must have done something wrong or the girl must have done something wrong, without questioning why the perpetrator did what he did.
When a woman or girl has been hurt, we’ve got to stop saying: “it’s just boys being boys”. Again, it’s all about changing those attitudes at a young age that can ultimately lead towards disrespect to women, which can then lead, of course, to violence against women and their children.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to stop the excuses, it’s time to start the conversation.
11.38pm BST
23:38
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.
We are trying to hit directly at that attitudinal and habitual behaviour that hits in the mind of particularly young men and boys.
