Doorstop: Company Tax, Banking Royal Commission

MATT KEOGH: So we’re here for the last few days of Parliament before we get to Easter, and Malcolm Turnbull seems content on delivering the mother of all Easter eggs to corporate Australia and in particular to the big banks, by providing them with a massive a tax cut.

 

All at a time when over the last few weeks, we’ve seen during the hearings of the royal commission, we’ve seen allegations of fraud, bribery, handing increased credit card limits to those who have gambling problems.

 

All issues that would not have come out, if we hadn’t had a royal commission into the banking sector. A royal commission that the Labor party had been calling for, for years, and that this government was not wanting and not prepared to deliver.

 

All part of their protection racket for the big banks in Australia.

 

We’ve seen this in the way that they’ve constructed this royal commission. They’ve limited its terms of reference, they won’t allow us to look into the conduct of the regulators. The regulators that this government said were doing a perfectly fine job, and were looking after Australian’s interests.

 

Well clearly from this royal commission we’ve seen that that’s not the case at all.

 

We’ve also got a royal commission which is hampered by time. We’ve already seen just in the course of the first few hearings of this royal commission; banks that have been let off the hook, the Citibank not having to come and give evidence because they ran out of time, banks filing documents late so that those documents can’t be aired in public through these hearings.

 

It’s a royal commission that’s almost a Clayton’s Royal Commission, it’s all part of a protection racket by the Turnbull Government to protect the banks whilst not looking after ordinary Australians. They’re doubling down this week by trying to pass on a massive tax cut to the banks as well to give them more money when really what this Government should be doing is prioritising the ordinary Australians, banking customers in Australia that have been ripped off by these banks and there’s absolutely no confidence, I believe, no confidence that the banks are getting any better.

 

At the end of the day it’s a royal commission that is bringing to light this conduct. It’s a royal commission though, that would not have been held if it wasn’t for Labor and the Australian public continuing to call for this royal commission, a royal commission that this government was dragged kicking and screaming to hold.

 

JOURNALIST: The banks have already paid the bank levy, what do you make of the Government’s argument that that’s why they won’t be exempting them from this tax cut?

 

KEOGH: Well isn’t that really just taking with one hand and giving back with the other? What sort of banking levy is it when you say, ‘Oh we’re going to strong-arm the banks, we’re going to have a banking levy to hit their large super profits and then we’re going to give them a tax cut’.

 

It’s not a banking levy at all, which really shows that this government’s not delivering for Australians. They’re not delivering because they’re giving a massive tax cut to the largest banks in Australia.

 

JOURNALIST: What do you make of Darren Hinch’s proposal that you therefore lift that levy?

 

KEOGH: Well we haven’t seen anything concrete from Darren. We’re still waiting to see how he’s going to vote. We’re still waiting to see whether the crossbenchers are going to put ordinary Australians before the largest companies in Australia, in particular the big banks.