Quick bank inquiry response unlikely

THE Morrison Government isn’t budging on its rejection of Labor’s call for federal parliament to sit for an extra two weeks in March to deal with the recommendations of the banking royal commission.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says the Government’s response to commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s 76 recommendations will require at least 40 pieces of legislation and the Coalition wants to get them right.

“We won’t be rushing legislation into the parliament for a feverish, two-week sitting just to please Bill Shorten and the Labor Party,” he told ABC’s Insiders yesterday.

Taking time to prepare the laws properly will prevent the parliament from having to fix them later, he added.

But he acknowledged that meant there may not be a response to the inquiry until at least August, after the election likely to be held in May.

“It will be after the election, yes,” he said.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has called for two extra parliament sitting weeks in March to ensure changes are made in response to the banking royal commission before voters go to the polls.

The Opposition wants to expedite the commission’s recommendation to end grandfathered commissions for financial advice and change laws to ban hawking of superannuation and insurance in line with other recommendations.

“It’s critical that these changes are legislated as soon as possible and I request that you recall both houses of parliament,” Mr Shorten wrote on Tuesday.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says the push is a “political stunt” and that Labor should be focusing on its own response to the royal commission.

“We had the report for just a few days before we provided a formal, comprehensive response,” he said. “The Labor Party has had the report now for double the amount of time that we have and have failed to provide a formal response.”

The Coalition has said it will “take action” on all 76 recommendations.

A program for the Senate for the coming two weeks of parliament includes a move to ensure superannuation fund trustees could face civil penalties for breaches of their best interests obligations.

It has also fast-tracked for debate another piece of legislation known as the Protecting Your Superannuation package.