Banking royal commission: Pauline Hanson wants jail terms for bankers considered

Pauline Hanson wants the bank inquiry widened and says jail for executives guilty of misconduct “should be looked at”.

Pauline Hanson outside the banking royal commission with One Nation senator Peter Georgiou. Pic: AAP

One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has called for an investigation into receivers, liquidators and administrators and into lenders’ mortgage insurance.

Senator Hanson today attended the financial services royal commission in Melbourne, where she addressed reporters outside the hearing before taking a seat in the gallery.

She and colleague Senator Peter Georgiou say they want to see justice for members of the public affected by the actions of the banks, including for borrowers who lost their homes, after the party pushed for the royal commission.

An investigation into receivers and mortgage insurance would go further than the current inquiry, she said.

“I hope it is opened up a lot further for people to have their say,” Senator Hanson said.

She said consequences for bank executives would be up to the commissioner, but suggested jail terms for misconduct should be considered.

“If they are found guilty of gross mismanagement, and conduct of actually destroying people’s lives, I think it should seriously be looked at,” she said.

Senator Georgiou added: “And if they’re found to be fraudulent they need to be held accountable like everyone else, and yeah, face jail time if that’s the case.”

Ms Hanson added: “I know a lot of Australians, those ones who have lost their homes, who have lost everything, I think they’d come down very, very heavy in penalties on those people who are responsible for this.

“Forged signatures, foreclosure on properties … there’s been suicides, there’s been deaths, you can never get that back.”

Senator Hanson, who had pushed for a royal commission into the banks, last month used revelations of banking misconduct to urge that banks be denied a corporate tax cut, with money set aside for their victims and for future bank bailouts.

She has also argued that banks foot the bill for the royal commission.

The banking inquiry had earlier dismissed the “ulterior motive theories” about Commonwealth Bank’s treatment of Bankwest customers after it acquired the WA-based bank.

Ms Hanson said she believed that banks were engineering defaults.

But it was hard for regular people to fight the well-resourced banks in courts, she said.

Ms Hanson said she was taking the opportunity to visit the royal commission today as other times parliament had been sitting.

She declined to answer a question about whether she would be politicising the independent commission process by attending.