Royal Commission ‘lawyers’ funding fest’
The Federal Government once again refuted calls for a Royal Commission into the banking sector in Parliament yesterday, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull claiming it will be nothing but a forum for the legal profession.
As the Government narrowly won a motion to adjourn the debate in Parliament last night 73-72, Turnbull responded to Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten's, call for a Royal Commission on Wednesday, and argued the legal profession would be the only sector that would win from a Royal Commission.
"The reality is that the leader of the opposition has no interest whatsoever in any of the people that have been hard done by the banks — none at all. He has not offered to recover one dollar. He has not offered to change one law," Turnbull said.
"What he has offered to do is spend years and years and years on a lawyers' funding fest."
Turnbull reiterated his argument in Parliament yesterday when the Opposition Deputy Leader, Tanya Plibersek, put the question to Turnbull on the Royal Commission, stating the Senate had voted to establish the Royal Commission, and Turnbull's own back bench had threatened to cross the floor to support it.
However, Turnbull argued that a Royal Commission would cost hundreds of millions of dollars without establishing anything new, while victims of banking scandals would not be able to afford legal representation.
"Does the honourable member really imagine that a royal commission is something the banks would be afeared of? Does she really imagine that the banks, with all of their resources, with all of their lawyers, will not be equal to a royal commission?" he asked.
He added that the Royal Commission would not pay victims of bank scandals but would pay the legal profession.
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