Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Pat Conaghan and Federal Member for Flynn, Colin Boyce have slammed the Albanese Government for failing to respond to the Senate Inquiry into Bank Closures in Regional Australia - 455 days after the report was handed down and a full year after its own 90-day deadline expired.
The inquiry - initiated by the Coalition in February 2023 - received more than 600 submissions and held 13 public hearings in towns across the country. It laid out recommendations to protect regional banking, including:
- Recognising banking as an essential service and guaranteeing reasonable access to cash and financial services.
- Establishing a mandatory Banking Code of Conduct with a genuine branch-closure process and proper local consultation.
- Giving a regulator the power to enforce the Code and block or defer closures.
The cost of Labor's inaction is mounting. Bendigo Bank has just announced 10 branch closures and 28 agency closures, stripping away services in dozens of communities including the in the Flynn electorate which has seen the Taroom Agency closed.
Federal Member for Flynn, Colin Boyce expressed his frustration over the lack of action from the Labor Government.
"Every day the Labor Government delays, more regional communities lose services that small businesses, older Australians, and families rely on. We need an immediate and practical plan in place before any more doors are shut," Mr Boyce said.
"Access to banking and financial services is a right, not a privilege. This Government's failure to respond more than 455 days after receiving the tax-payer-funded-inquiry's report is unacceptable.
"The Coalition stands ready to work with the Government to deliver practical, lasting solutions so every Australian - no matter where they live - has fair access to banking."
Shadow Minister for Financial Services Pat Conaghan expressed the Coalition's ongoing commitment to regional communities and emphasised the National Party's acute awareness that regional people were being forgotten by Labor's continued delays and metro-centric focus.
"Every National Party MP and Senator has this week signed an open letter to the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, urging them to immediately table the Government's response to the inquiry and to work with all sides of the floor to urgently protect our regional banking services," Mr Conaghan stated.
"To date, rather than doing the necessary heavy lifting, Labor has hidden behind a voluntary moratorium with the big banks. It's not binding, came too late for many towns in our communities, and does not cover the mid-tier banks that regional Australians rely on. Labor may have forgotten the regions, but the Coalition haven't. We will continue to apply pressure and hold them to account."
