There are brave individuals in the other place; Senator
Williams, in particular, is the first person I saw call on this. At the time I thought
we had a well-regulated banking sector, which had coasted us through the global
financial crisis, and I was using that as evidence of how resilient the
Australian banking system was and how well regulated it was. But it turns out I
was wrong. I’m very pleased that we now have the very swift recommendations of
Commissioner Hayne to work through. I’m very hopeful that, irrespective of
those recommendations and the actions that will come from them from this place,
the senior management teams within the banking sector in Australia understand
the need to change the culture within those organisations; to refocus their
attention on serving their customers, ensuring their customers are treated
appropriately and fairly, and ensuring that their behaviour meets the requisite
standard. I commend the bill to the House.