The Australian Citizens Party (ACP) today urged all Australians to participate in the Senate inquiry into the new Reserve Bank Reforms bill, so that the major political parties don’t get away with sweeping one of the biggest political issues of all time under the carpet.
The Big Four bank CEOs would have been extremely unhappy on Friday as they monitored the Canberra hearing of the Senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia.
What they heard in that hearing is literally their worst nightmare: strong advocacy for a government-owned bank, operating through post offices, to force the Big Four to truly compete.
Unless the Australian people stop them, the Treasurer and Shadow Treasurer look set to elevate unelected central bankers above the authority of the elected government—enshrining a bankers’ dictatorship with no democratic protections against ideological monetary policies that crush the people but enrich the banks.
After voting down a similar motion in September 2022, this month Temora Shire in NSW reversed its position and carried a motion to support a public post office bank.
The dramatic change of view follows NAB announcing the closure of the local Temora branch, one of 38 regional bank branches NAB has closed or announced to close this year.
The Senate inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia will hold hearings in WA this week, to give Western Australians the chance to have their say on the banks abandoning regional communities. On Tuesday the Senate inquiry will be in Carnamah, four hours north of Perth, where Westpac closed the town’s only bank in March.
The 200 Glenroy locals who protested the closure of the Glenroy Post Office last Friday, including Harold from Neighbours, represent a powerful message to the Albanese government: people are sick to death of losing their essential services.
