Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declared that his Government had made a mistake in dismissing a Royal Commission into Australia’s big banks.
Speaking in Berlin yesterday, Mr Turnbull admitted publicly for the first time that his government takes responsibility for not calling a formal inquiry earlier, saying in hindsight it would have been better for the government to have set up a banking royal commission two years ago.
“I understand when you’re writing the political criticism, you say the government would have had less political grief if it had set up a royal commission two years ago – you’re right, clearly, with the benefit of hindsight,” he said at a press conference.
Mr Turnbull, Treasurer Scott Morrison and other senior colleagues have spent the last two years arguing against holding an inquiry into the financial sector, instead setting about ushering in new rules, regulations and powers to clean up the sector.
The government only called a Royal Commission into the banks last year after pressure from their own backbench.
The admission comes after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released, the results of it’s latest investigation into the financial advice industry last Wednesday.
The investigation in conjunction with the inquiry uncovered disturbing evidence relating to the poor treatment of customers, including providing poor financial advice, and the startling revelation last week that the Commonwealth Bank was charging a deceased customer for over 10 years.
Responding to criticism by Opposition leader Bill Shorten slamming him for inaction, Mr Turnbull pointed to several changes the Coalition made as proof that it acted rather than relying on the inquiry.
He argued that it would have been harder to make any immediate regulatory changes with a Royal Commission in place.
“My concern was that a Royal Commission would have gone on for several years, that has generally been the experience, and people would then say ‘you can’t reform, you can’t legislate you’ve got to wait for the Royal Commissioner’s report’,” he said.
The inquiry continues today.
