Turnbull Cabinet discusses an about-face on holding a Royal Commission into Australia’s banks
MALCOLM Turnbull has responded to claims his Cabinet is “leaking like the Titanic” at the moment, while ruling out a Royal Commission into the banks.
NSW
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MALCOLM Turnbull has responded to claims his Cabinet is “leaking like the Titanic” at the moment, while ruling out a Royal Commission into the banks.
The Daily Telegraph revealed today the Turnbull cabinet has discussed potentially reversing it’s stance not to hold an investigation into the banking sector.
The talks were prompted by threats from Coalition backbenchers that they would cross the floor to launch a Commission of Inquiry into the banks.
Mr Turnbull ruled out a Royal Commission while being grilled about the cabinet leak by Today Show host Karl Stefanovic this morning.
“Your cabinet seem to want one - your cabinet’s leaking like the Titanic at the moment,” Stefanovic said.
Mr Turnbull refused to comment on Cabinet talks.
“I tell you we are in an age of social media, media age of gossip and speculation and I would not place any reliance on it, the stuff you read nowadays,” he said.
“Sometimes I read stuff about the cabinet and I wonder if it’s the cabinet of another country or perhaps somewhere else, another plain, you know.
“The reality is we’re getting on with the job.”
Mr Turnbull defended the decision not to hold a Royal Commission, saying it was a long inquiry that would do nothing but produce a report.
“What governments have to do is take action.”
There was a “despondent” mood in the Cabinet this week with the dilemma on whether to hold a formal commission of inquiry into the banks an existential one because if National MPs crossed the floor, an inquiry would eventuate.
There was a sense of annoyance among ministers that they have to put up with backbenchers who are “consumed with selfishness and prepared to hang their colleagues and the government out to dry”.
The Cabinet meeting was described as “calm and rational but despondent”.
According to colleagues present, Treasurer Scott Morrison is understood to have vehemently disagreed with holding a Royal Commission into the banks, while Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was said to be opposed in principle but was open to it as an option that should be considered.
The argument was that it was an “existential” question: if Nationals MP George Christensen, Barry O’Sullivan and other colleagues crossed the floor, the Turnbull government would have lost control of the floor of the house.
The pros and cons of holding a Royal Commission or Commission of Inquiry were raised during Cabinet, but the issue was not resolved.
In response to questions from The Daily Telegraph, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the government’s position on holding a Royal Commission into the banks had not changed and neither had Mr Turnbull’s personal view.
The matter was given urgent attention in Cabinet after Nats MPs warned they were prepared to cross the floor and support Labor and the Greens’ move to establish a Commission of Inquiry.
The success of a Labor move would be an embarrassment to the government and would damage Mr Turnbull’s authority. Outside Cabinet, senior Liberals privately questioned why the government should die in a ditch to support the banks, when an inquiry was inevitable.
If Mr Turnbull pressed ahead and called for a commission into the banking sector to pre-empt a Labor motion getting up in the Parliament, it would be a major backflip. Other senior Liberals told The Daily Telegraph this backflip would be too great to wear and equally as damaging as losing control of the floor of Parliament.
In a letter to Mr Turnbull, Mr Christensen has threatened to cross the floor to back an inquiry into the banks.