Williams says government should ‘do a Barnaby’ on bank inquiry

An MP who campaigned for a banks inquiry for years says Coalition frontbenchers should admit they were wrong.

A Coalition backbencher who for years was a lone voice in campaigning for a royal commission into the banks says his frontbench colleagues should “do a Barnaby” and admit they were wrong in opposing the inquiry.

Nationals senator John “Wacka” Williams’ comments come after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today conceded it was a clear political error not to call a royal commission into the “unacceptable behaviour” of the banks when he first “called out” the anti-customer culture of financial institutions.

Financial services minister Kelly O’Dwyer yesterday repeatedly refused to accept that the Coalition should have agreed to the probe earlier.

Last week former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said he had been wrong to argue against a royal commission because what had emerged so far during the investigation by commissioner Kenneth Hayne was “beyond disturbing”.

Senator Williams said that despite his long term interest in the issue, even he had been “amazed” by the extent of the wrongdoing revealed by the royal commission.

“Charging to people who are dead for fees for financial advice, cheating to ASIC or lying to ASIC, I mean it’s just unbelievable what’s coming out,” Senator Williams told ABC radio.

“I’m sure there’s more to come and as far as the people go, well, I think the best thing if I was opposing the royal commission like many of my colleagues did, or most of them, I’d do a Barnaby: ‘Look, I had it wrong’.”

Asked whether he was baffled that many of his frontbench colleagues would not admit that they were wrong in opposing a royal commission, Senator Williams said he could not speak on their behalf.

“But I’m quite amazed,” he said.

“Clearly the royal commission is doing a good job. Commissioner Hayne I think is magnificent. He doesn’t take any prisoners. He’s very direct and very forthright when he interjects to the witnesses.

“What’s going to come out is I know there’s a lot more to come forward. There’s a lot more wrongdoings will be highlighted and broadcast in the royal commission as we go along, and who knows if it’s going to have enough time to complete everything by February next year? “So yeah, I’m sure many of my colleagues are saying, well, perhaps we should have had it earlier.”

Senator Williams also suggested industry watchdog ASIC needed to be bolstered.

“They’ve got to be stronger. They’ve got to be seen as a feared regulator. That is not the situation at the moment,” he said.

“ I sent a text message to Peter Kell the deputy commissioner a couple of nights ago and said, ‘mate, Australia’s waiting for you to act’.

“You’ve got to be severe. You’ve got to be feared. If you’re not a feared regulator people are going to continue to abuse the system, do the wrong thing, without fear of the punishments, so I’m very glad to see Kelly O’Dwyer announcing punishments which we’ve talked about now for several years.”