The Sterling First fiasco proves the importance of the current Senate inquiry into ASIC, which is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to fix the pathetic regulator so it actually polices financial crime.
Senator Andrew Bragg established his Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into ASIC investigation and enforcement last October, seizing on the revelations of the Adams Report.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has committed to dumping the policy for which “old Labor” legends John Curtin and Ben Chifley fought hardest—democratic control of the central bank and the banking system.
Due to high demand, the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RARAT) Committee has extended the deadline for submissions to its inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia by a month, to 28 April.
The banks are pushing customers to do their banking online, but NAB’s mistreatment of Paul Thomas shows this gives the banks enormous power over consumers which they are all too willing to abuse.
