A government Senator has contradicted Treasury and the ex-banker who controls the Senate Economics Committee and confirmed that the APRA crisis resolution powers legislation sneaked through Parliament in February is a “bail-in” law.
More evidence has emerged that the APRA bail-in law passed in February does not exclude ordinary deposits from being converted into worthless shares or written off to prop up failing banks, a.k.a. bailed in, as some politicians assumed.
The urgency of a Glass-Steagall separation of deposit-taking banks from dangerous speculation, is that it is necessary to protect Australians from a financial collapse. A 27 May 2018 column in news.com.au has reported the warnings of former advGlasiser to the Liberal-National Coalition, John Adams, that such a collapse, which Adams calls an “economic Armageddon”, is looming over Australia.
The terms of reference that Malcolm Turnbull gave to the Banking Royal Commission only allow it to examine specific failings of regulators in relation to banking misconduct. It is not allowed to examine “macro-prudential policy”, which is the regulatory structure of the financial system, and the policies of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the bank regulator.
APRA/ASIC/ACCC/AUSTRAC, Royal Commission, Bail-in, Banking / Finance
Under siege from erupting public opposition, the Turnbull government whisked its APRA crisis resolution bill through the Senate and into law on 14 February. Of Australia’s 76 senators, only eight were present when the government rushed the bill to a vote, which passed “on the voices”, with no opposition from the Labor or Greens senators present.
