Banking royal commission: ‘burnt by lender but we’re the lucky ones’

Banking royal commission gave evicted farming couple the sense they were not alone in their fight for survival.

Angela Fairhall and husband Peter Repacholi on their 4000ha farm Palomar in the WA wheatbelt. Picture: Colin Murty

Peter Repacholi and his wife ­Angela Fairhall fought hard to keep the farm his grandfather ­established 107 years ago in the West Australian wheatbelt, but they were evicted in 2014 with a debt to Bankwest of $3.5 million.

The couple’s story made headlines around Australia and intensified calls for a royal commission into banks. Documents released to a Senate committee by restructuring and investment firm KordaMentha in 2017 revealed that bank-appointed administrators made more than $500,000 in fees selling Mr Repacholi’s assets.

But yesterday Ms Fairhall said she felt she and her husband were “among the lucky ones”. They have the farm back after a deal with the bank.

She said the royal commission gave her a sense that she and her husband were not alone, and that many were worse off. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s report recommended banks should only be able to call in administrators or receivers on defaulting farmers when all other avenues are exhausted. This could have helped Mr Repacholi and Ms Fairhall keep the 4000ha property named Palomar, since Mr Repacholi was trying to get finance before the pair were forced to move into the town of Kondinin.

“When you are in trouble they just want you off their books,” she said. “There was one opportunity to get finance and they still refused. I hope it does change but I think criminal charges against the worst offenders is what will change it. If there are no charges, it’s just a slap on the hand.”

Ms Fairhall said it was Mr Repacholi’s mother who stepped in to save the family property three hours’ drive southeast of Perth. She gave her son the money he needed to do a deal with the bank in November 2014.

The couple’s financial strife began in 2011, around the time several other wheatbelt farmers were beginning to struggle in WA. Ms Fairhall said they clung on through rising costs and a run of poor seasons. There were frosts “and then of course rain doesn’t come and you’ve got no crop”. A good harvest in 2013 was not enough to solve their woes.

At one point it cost them about $600,000 a year to run the farm, including $200,000 in interest. Then Bankwest raised the interest rate.

Mr Hayne’s final report recommends that only experienced agricultural bankers deal with those loans, and mediation as soon as a loan is classified as distressed.

Yesterday Agriculture Minister David Littleproud demanded banks scrap default interest charges for farmers suffering natural disasters, in line with a recommendation from Mr Hayne.