Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 1800 636 432
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://www.cecaust.com.au

Success! APRA ‘bail-in’ bill referred for parliamentary scrutiny—have your say!

The thousands of meetings, phone calls and emails that Australians have had with or sent to their MPs and Senators have successfully foiled the government’s hopes of sneaking its APRA crisis resolution bill through parliament. It has been referred to a Senate committee for scrutiny, and is reported in today’s Australian Financial Review.

The bill, Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Crisis Resolution Powers and Other Measures) Bill 2017, gives the bank regulator APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) sweeping crisis resolution powers, including powers that could be used to “bail in” the savings of unsuspecting bondholders and even depositors to prop up failing banks. To deflect attention, Treasurer Scott Morrison announced it in a Friday afternoon press release on 18 August, and downplayed it to his colleagues as “technical” amendments; even by November many MPs and Senators had no idea about the bill until they were informed by CEC supporters. The Greens, however, also recognised the danger that the bill could enable deposits to be bailed in, and have referred it to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, where it can be subjected to a detailed examination.

Due to the scale of activation by everyday Australians against this bill, the mainstream media has finally reported on it, in an article in today’s 21 November Australian Financial Review. Notwithstanding the attempt by the editors of AFR—who would side with the banks against their own grandmothers—to spin the issue in defence of the banks against calls for a banking inquiry, the article clearly spells out the issues with the bill, and the CEC’s calls for the government to instead legislate a Glass-Steagall separation of deposit-taking banks from all forms of speculation.

Everyone make a submission!

With the APRA bill now before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, there is an opportunity for the public to have their say on whether the government should give APRA such sweeping powers. This is one time when every Australian should take responsibility to make their voice heard, with rare confidence that it can make a difference. The government’s weakness is scrutiny, and while most major party MPs are usually inclined to take the advice of technocrats and wave a bill like this through, a flood of submissions from everyday people will make them nervous enough to look more closely. Under such scrutiny this bill can be defeated.

To make your submission, write or email a letter to the committee.

Click here for the Senate committee’s inquiry website.

Email your submission to: economics.sen@aph.gov.au

If you can’t email, mail your submission to:
Senate Standing Committees on Economics
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Identify the bill that is the subject of the inquiry: the Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Crisis Resolution Powers and Other Measures) Bill 2017 [Provisions].

Address one or more of the terms of reference, which are:

To understand exactly what capital instruments are covered by the Bill.

CEC: This refers to whether APRA will be able to make determinations in the future that deposits are capital for conversion or write-off (bail-in).

To understand what consultation process APRA would be required to undertake before making determinations under the Bill.

CEC: Could APRA make a determination about deposits without consulting Parliament or the government?

To understand what power the executive and/or parliament is ceding to APRA.

CEC: This relates to APRA’s operational independence. The supranational banking regulation agencies that APRA represents, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) based in Basel, Switzerland, insist that there must be no government interference in its activities, but such “independence” removes it from democratic accountability. Whereas a democratic government would tend to avoid extreme actions like bail-in, because the damage it would do to the community would destroy its electoral support, an independent APRA could push ahead with bail-in regardless of the consequences.

To understand the possible implications to market concentration in the banking sector.

CEC: This refers to the Big Four Too-Big-To-Fail banks, in which Australia’s banking system is becoming increasingly concentrated. The solution to this problem is to break up the banks with Glass-Steagall.

Write your submission in your own words. It doesn’t matter how long or short it is, or how you write it. Even if your submission in just one sentence, the most important thing is that the committee will register your concerns, and those of many, many others.

If the Australian people can defeat this bill, it doesn’t just protect Australians from bail-in. It will start to derail the global bail-in agenda, which APRA’s superiors in the Bank of England, the BIS, the FSB and the TBTF banks have pushed since 2008 to preserve the existing banking practices, so they wouldn’t be subject to a Glass-Steagall banking separation that would force them to stop gambling with deposits.

The deadline for submissions is 18 December, but don’t delay. Make your submission immediately! Please send the CEC a copy of your submission at cec@cecaust.com.au

For essential background information you can use in your submission, click here for “Questions MPs must ask before they vote on the APRA crisis management—‘bail-in’—bill”.

Click here for a free copy of the CEC’s pamphlet, Glass-Steagall Now!

Click here to join the CEC as a member.

Click here to refer others to receive regular email updates from the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia.