No rush on laws: Pyne

DEFENCE Minister Christopher Pyne has dismissed 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.

Mr 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 … for a feverish, twoweek sitting just to please Bill Shorten and the Labor Party,” he said 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 sitting weeks in March to ensure changes are made before voters go to the polls.

The Opposition wants to expedite the 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 these changes are legislated as soon as possible,” Mr Shorten said.