Banking royal commission: ALP urges instant release of Hayne report ahead of timing statement

Bill Shorten has demanded the government air the Hayne report “straight away” ahead of tomorrow’s official release on timing.

Banking Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne. David Geraghty/The Australian

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has demanded the immediate release of the final banking royal commission report as the Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg gets set to announce the timing of its release tomorrow.

The report will be handed to the Government on Friday but it is not expected to be released until Sunday at the earliest.

Mr Frydenberg has no unofficial version but is working on potential policy options.

The Opposition Leader said Scott Morrison should not play “political games” by holding onto the report for “days or weeks”.

“Release it straight away on Friday. There is no time for games,” Mr Shorten said.

“Too many thousands of people have been victims of bad banking practice. I’m demanding that the government release the report on Friday.

“You didn’t want the royal commission. Don’t pretend now that you are going to save your reputation by hatching it for a few days or weeks.”

The Federal Oppisition has already made clear it plans to adopt all of the Commission’s recommendations.

The Government is likely to do much the same in an attempt to neutralise the political impact of the report.

Frydenberg believes the Oppisition is vulnerable on the issue of tax, with franking credits and negative gearing among its controversial proposals.

Accordingly, the more time devoted to the tax debate the better it is for the Government.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe is due to make a National Press Club speech on February 6 but Frydenberg has no scheduled speeches due after his recent Sydney Instiutte address on tax policy.

Mr Shorten also defended superannuation fund First Super for defying the advice of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in refusing to merge with a larger fund.

The Australian revealed this morning that First Super, chaired by the national secretary of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, had dismissed APRA’s urgings for it to be merged because it is a liquidity risk.

Mr Shorten said the fund had been in the top quartile of performers.

“I did notice that The Australian newspaper said that First Super’s performance had been top quarter for quite a period of time,” Mr Shorten said.

“If a fund, it doesn’t matter who is the trustee, delivering for its members than that is what matters.

“But I’m not going to second guess APRA here and I’m not going to second guess the superannuation trustees.”

First Super is the only industry and employee fund that has not signed up to the Insurance Superannuation Code of Practice.

The code, created in late 2017 at the behest of then financial services minister Kelly O’Dwyer, lays out standards across issues such as claims handling and member communications to prevent the erosion of member balances through unneeded cover.