Entsch slams report

No plan to cross floor on banks probe but gloves off

LEICHHARDT MP Warren Entsch has rejected an ABC report that he planned to cross the floor of parliament if the Federal Government did not call a royal commission into banking.

However, he stopped short of ruling out the potential need for a royal commission altogether.

“I always say that if I’m going to cross the floor, you’ll read about it when I do it,” he said. “I don’t make threats.” Mr Entsch, who will start his homeward journey on Saturday after a United Nations secondment to New York, said he was committed to finding a cheaper, more effective alternative to a royal commission to clean up the banking sector.

To that end, Treasurer Scott Morrison had asked him to refer two cases of Cairns businesses he believed had been sent broke by unconscionable banking practices – former development giants CEC Group, operated by Roy Lavis, and Udo Jattke’s Glenwood Homes.

“The last thing we want is a royal commission that’s going to tell us that banks are a pack of pricks,” he said. “We know that already.” Mr Entsch said he had been working closely with Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell, who in February released her report into small business lending practices of the major banks.

He said there was a flaw in how current investigations were being handled with a $5 million cap on supposed victims’ damages.

“Scott Morrison has promised to get back to me before Christmas,” he said.

“If he comes back and says there’s nothing we can do for historical victims over $5 million, he would have to give me some reasons.

“It may well be that new terms of reference are required to get this resolved.”

Mr Entsch said it was in the interest of banks to enter long and expensive legal proceedings with alleged victims, because they had the means to keep fighting and time on their side.

“This has been one of the banks’ greatest bloody strengths in so much as they can employ the best legal minds and drag processes on indefinitely,” he said.

“They know time is on their side.

“When a victim passes away, the problem is gone.”

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