The two major parties are just puppets for the big banks. “The Big Four banks have agreed to keep their regional branches open until at least 2027, under a new deal struck with the federal government.
About 36 per cent of bank branches in regional Australia have closed since 2017, according to the government, leaving many communities without a physical location to withdraw cash or open an account.
NAB has now agreed to a two-and-a-half-year moratorium on closures, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac will extend their existing agreements.
This brings all the major banks in line, after ANZ agreed to halt closures as a condition of its takeover of Suncorp Bank 2024.”
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After closing over a third of their branch network over the last 7 years the big banks have promised to stop closing more the next two years.
How does this help all the towns that have already lost their branches?
Why isn’t the government penalising the banks for breaching the banking code of conduct for not leaving a branch in every town and engaging in consultation with the community before leaving.
The Labor party of yesteryear would have smashed the banks for leaving pensioners, small business and the disabled high and dry. But not this lot. There is even a former Labor premier who is head of the banking association.
The only solution to this is to have a proper public bank (and insurance office office) as advocated for by the People First party.
Just to be clear what we are proposing isn’t a Post Office Bank which provides banking services for the big four banks at a small margin but a proper stand alone bank that uses the RBA payment systems to offer its own accounts and loans with a view to generating around $5-$10 billion in profit for taxpayers.
Only People First has the knowledge and skill set to do this which is why I am asking for your vote at the upcoming Federal Election.
Senate on 12/02/2025
Item STATEMENTS BY SENATORS – Banking and Financial Services
Senator RENNICK (Queensland) (13:40): I want to call out the Labor Party on this absolute cop-out of a decision yesterday. They have rolled over to the big banks yet again, like they did in 1985 when they lifted capital controls and in 1992 when they privatised the Commonwealth Bank. They’ve effectively got an agreement from the four major banks that they’re going keep their branches open until 2027. What a cop-out. That is an absolute insult to the hardworking people out in regional and metropolitan Australia who need to access banking services. Ben Chifley would be rolling in his grave, if he saw the modern Labor Party today. I know you agree with me, Acting Deputy President Sterle; you’re an old Chifley man yourself, coming from the working class.
What has happened to the Labor Party? Stop selling out to the big banks. We need more branches in the regions. We need a proper public ban not this postal bank rubbish, whereby little post office franchises are being screwed by the major banks. Yes, it’s all very well that they’ve signed an agreement now. But under the last agreement, the banks went and closed a whole heap more branches, which of course meant that the post offices got more work and the post office itself couldn’t actually engage in these transactions for a profit.
The banks are merely shifting costs through Bank@Post. The only party that has a proper solution is the People First Party, which wants a public bank that uses the RBA payment systems that already exist. I know about that because I’ve actually managed the payment systems in an Australian-listed bank. We need a government insurance office brought back that would also include a government superannuation fund, all under the same roof. We would save billions of dollars to return to the pockets of the Australian people.
