Bill Shorten asks Scott Morrison for extra sitting days to deal with bank royal commission

Bill Shorten has formally requested the PM add two weeks of sittings to deal with the fallout from the royal commission.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 04: Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten arrives during the State Commemoration for the 10 year anniversary of the 2009 Victorian bushfires on February 04, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. The Commemoration marks 10 years since the devastating 2009 Victorian bushfires and remembers the 173 people who lost their lives, those impacted across the state and beyond, and acknowledges those who contributed to the response. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)

Bill Shorten has formally requested Scott Morrison add two additional weeks of parliamentary sittings in March to deal with legislative changes arising from the royal commission.

But the Prime Minister rejected the request outright, urging Labor to back financial sector reforms already before the parliament.

“There’s already legislation in the Parliament that deals with a number of the royal commission’s recommendations and even goes further, but Bill Shorten and Labor have been fighting it tooth and nail,’’ he said.

“We won’t be lectured by Bill Shorten who still hasn’t outlined which recommendations Labor would implement.”

The Opposition Leader wrote to the Mr Morrison today requesting both houses of parliament be recalled to sit over the weeks March 5-7, and March 12-14.

“Failing to do so will leave Australians in no doubt that once again, you are putting the interests of the big banks ahead of them,” Mr Shorten said.

Calling today a “day of shame’’ for the banks, Mr Shorten had earlier said the response to the royal commission would be a “big issue” at the upcoming federal election.

The government, which struggles to maintain control of the House of Representatives due to its minority status, has scheduled only a fortnight of sittings for the lower house before budget week and an expected election announcement, while the Senate will sit for just a week.

Mr Shorten said the government’s “part-time sitting arrangements” would severely the ability of the parliament to do ist work on behalf of the Australian people.

“While there are many significant priorities facing the Parliament, there is no more pressing priority than addressing the recommendations of the Royal Commission,” he said.

The Opposition has suggested the extra sitting days could be used to legislate a number of commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s key recommendations including ending grandfathered commissions for financial advice, which the government has proposed removing from January 1, 2021.

The extra sitting days could also be used to legislate recommendations to prohibit hawking of superannuation and insurance products, and extending unfair contract terms provisions in Australian Consumer Law to insurance.

Closing legislative loopholes to protect consumers across a range of areas identified by commissioner Hayne should also be prioritised, according to Labor.

Labor has vowed to implement all 76 recommendations handed down by royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne.

Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen, embracing “in principle” all of Kenneth Hayne’s recommendations, said some could be introduced almost immediately. He said others, such as overhauling commissions in the mortgage-broking industry, could take years.

Mr Shorten said royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s final report highlighted a lack of public trust in the financial sector.

“This royal commission shows the failure of trust between the banking sector and Australians,” Mr Shorten said.

“The banks themselves should be ashamed of themselves for their behaviour and the government should be almost as ashamed by its behaviour trying to cover up the scandalous behaviour of the banks.

“I ask the Australian people at the election: Who do you trust to keep the banks honest: the Liberals who wanted to cover it up or Labor who wanted to see the truth?”

Mr Shorten said Mr Morrison should apologise for voting against a royal commission 26 times in parliament.

“But that won’t be enough. If you are fair dinkum about being sorry then what we do is we schedule another two weeks of parliament in March and we make sure we start implementing the recommendations of the royal commission,” Mr Shorten said.

“If this government can’t reconvene parliament for March, if they can’t say sorry, if they can’t start calling for senior directors to consider their position, they haven’t learnt their lesson.”

In Brisbane, Mr Bowen said of the mortgage-broking recommendations: “The royal commission doesn’t recommend they be done urgently. The royal commission doesn’t recommend they be done tomorrow or next year. They recommend a longer lead time because there’s obvious implications. That’s appropriate.”

Mr Bowen urged the Coalition to schedule “as many (sitting days) as it takes” to pass the most basic reforms suggested by the royal commission through parliament.

“Our offer is a genuine one. We don’t think the Australian people should have to wait until August to see some of these recommendations implemented,” he said.

“Some of them could be done quickly with legislation passed, and I think that would give the Australian people comfort that the parliament is doing its job and the report is being taken seriously.”

Mr Bowen embraced the commission’s idea of having a single default superannuation fund “stapled” to each worker, to avoid workers collecting numerous “zombie” accounts over their working life.

This is inconsistent with the union-backed industry funds’ suggestion of automatically rolling over workers’ super balances when they start a new job with a different default fund.

Mr Bowen said he accepted the commission’s recommendation “in principle”, but refused to answer when asked whether the industry funds’ idea could yet be implemented.

“There will be a range of views expressed and unlike the government which is cherry picking which parts they like and which parts they don’t like, we accept the recommendations in principle and will move in close consultation

with all affected parties,” he said.

‘We should have called it earlier’

Malcolm Turnbull has intervened on the Morrison government’s response to the banking royal commission, declaring the probe should have been called earlier while admitting he misjudged the cultural problems in the sector.

The former prime minister, who voted against a royal commission 26 times when he was the nation’s leader, said the powerful probe should have been called 18 months earlier than it was.

.@TurnbullMalcolm: @ScottMorrisonMP and I were well advanced with a compensation scheme so I expect he will dust that off. We weren't seeking to protect banks contrary to what @AustralianLabor would have you believe.

MORE: https://t.co/GTLbtBm23H #AMagenda pic.twitter.com/m5pa2w2MIj

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 4, 2019

Mr Turnbull belatedly established the royal commission in November 2017 because of fears the Nationals would join Labor and the Greens and legislate a commission of inquiry into the sector without the support of executive government.

“There were some cases, examples of wrongdoing, that came out in the royal commission that shocked me in the sense that I did not believe the cultural failures had been as bad as that,” Mr Turnbull said this morning.

“I believe with the benefit of hindsight we should have held the royal commission earlier. But I think what the royal commission has done is provided something of a shock treatment to really ram home the need for that cultural change. So I think that is going to be very important for faith and confidence.

“You have got to believe when the bank says, ‘invest in this or take this loan or take this approach’, that they are acting in your best interests.

“Just as you believe that when your doctor says you need this particular procedure the doctor is saying that to you because you do need it. Not because the doctor wants to make money out of the procedure.”

’Just at start of road back’

Josh Frydenberg says the banks are just at the start of a “road back” to win the trust of the public as he repeatedly refused to apologise for voting against the royal commission 26 times in parliament.

The Treasurer said bank executives were saying the right things but Australians would only be won over if there was a long-term change in behaviour.

“They have said the right things so far but it is now the question on whether they will do the right things. And the cultural change must start within those financial institutions,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio.

“It is up to those financial institutions to ensure that the culture changes, that the misconduct doesn’t occur again and that the performance is in the best interest of the consumers.”

He refused to call for NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn and chairman Ken Henry to stand down, after they came under intense criticism from royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne.

Mr Frydenberg said he had spoken to the heads of the banking and corporate regulators and he was confident they would be tougher on the banks in the future.

“They were too timid and they were preferring negotiation over litigation. Commissioner Hayne found them wanting,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“But he did say yesterday in his report that they have changed their approach.”

He would not apologise for the government opposing Labor’s call for a banking royal commission for 18 months.

Scott Morrison said a royal commission was “regrettable” after calling one in November 2017 due to fears of a revolt from the Nationals.

“We are the ones who called the banking royal commission,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“We are the ones who announced yesterday that that we are taking action on all 76 recommendations. We are the ones who put in place important reforms and we are the ones who are going to offer banking consumers a compensation scheme of a last resort.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said the recommendations were the minimum action required and flagged Labor could come down with tougher reforms if it wins government.

“We see the recommendations as an important part of the conversation,” Mr Bowen told ABC radio.

“We think the action recommended is the minimum required and if we feel that we need to say more about what is necessary in the financial services sector we will say so well before the election.”

Mr Bowen criticised Mr Frydenberg for delaying taking action on the recommendation for customers to pay mortgage broker fees rather than banks.

“I don’t think you can cherry pick recommendations, either you support the royal commission recommendations or you don’t. The royal commission has not brought down the recommendations for fun,” he said.

He said Labor would offer to help pass non-contentious reforms through the parliament in the 10 sitting days before the election.

“It is a genuine good faith offer. I am happy to engage with the government,” he said.

“There are things here which should, you would think, be sensible. That you would think both sides would agree with and which could get through pretty quickly if the government wanted too. And indeed, we are happy for the parliament to sit longer if that is what it takes.”