<table
Nationals Senator John Williams will today lodge a notice of motion in the Federal Senate to establish a select Senate committee to look into banking and financial services practices across Australia.
The inquiry will examine the circumstances surrounding the collapsed financial planning group Storm Financial , as well as the banks associated with the group – the Commonwealth Bank of Australia , Bank of Queensland and Macquarie Bank .
Senator Williams, who said he has the support of the Coalition, said any Senator who opposes the inquiry would be “probably betraying the people of Australia the way things are at the moment”.
Williams said this was “not a bank-bashing exercise”, but an opportunity to examine various areas of the banking and financial services industry in the current environment.
“I’ve sat down with Emmanuel Cassimatis – the boss of the failed Storm Group – for several hours and heard his side of the story,” Williams told Money Management .
“I want to hear the banks’ side, because there’s two sides to every story.”
The committee will consist of eight senators, Williams said, most likely consisting of four from the Coalition, three from Labor and one from the cross bench.
Williams will work with Coalition Senators Barnaby Joyce and Ian McDonald, Federal Nationals Leader Warren Truss and Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull to establish the Terms of Reference. Senator Williams will lodge the motion for the Terms of Reference for the inquiry in the Senate on March 11.
“How wide we go we do not know,” Williams said.
“But there are many things that concern me.”
Williams said questions would be posed at the economic committee during Senate Estimates in two weeks’ time.
“Those answers may also determine how wide we throw the net on the terms of reference.”
Of concern to Williams are the “risky lending” practices being employed by some of Australia’s big banks that have led to significant write-downs over the past six months.
When asked if the inquiry would examine bank lending standards for both home and investment loans, Williams confirmed that “these are the sort of areas we’d certainly have to cover, because mistakes have been made everywhere”.
Williams said he has told former clients of Storm Financial in Redcliffe in Brisbane that while “we can’t fix the past, if there was wrongdoing, surely the regulators have responsibility to see it doesn’t happen again”.
He said he does not see this as an issue to be rushed.
“I don’t care if this committee goes on for 12 to 18 months and reports every three months to the Senate,” Williams said.
“I have the gut feeling that as we open this inquiry, [many] more things are going to be brought forward to the inquiry. A lot more.”
