PRESS RELEASE: Bendigo Bank’s decimation of regional banking services demands government intervention—Citizens Party
The Citizens Party is calling for immediate federal government intervention to stop Bendigo Bank CEO Richard Fennell from closing 22 branches and agencies that are the last genuine banking services in their towns.
Last night Citizens Party representative Ray Williams addressed a crisis meeting at the West Coast Council in Queenstown, Tasmania, where Fennell is closing the last bank on the state’s west coast on 26 September.
Independent Senator for Tasmania, Tammy Tyrrell also attended the Queenstown meeting.
Since Bendigo Bank announced in July it would close ten branches and 28 agencies, of which five branches and 17 agencies are the last genuine banking services in their towns, the Citizens Party has worked hard to get Parliament and the government to act.
The party reached out to community leaders in all the impacted towns, twice made the very long trip to visit Queenstown, and twice sent delegations to Parliament, in July and September. They included internationally recognised banking regulation expert Dr Andy Schmulow, to appeal for government action—all to no avail.
Dr Schmulow made the case to politicians that because banks enjoy generous taxpayer subsidies afforded no other businesses, the government has a responsibility to intervene to ensure they provide a service.
“Fifteen months ago, a Senate report addressed the crisis in regional banking services, following a major, bipartisan inquiry”, Citizens Party National Chairman Robert Barwick said today.
“If such parliamentary processes have any meaning at all, the government has no choice but to act.
“The Senate report emphasised that the closure of the last bank in town is especially devastating for a community, so why is the government allowing Bendigo Bank to pull the rug out from under 22 towns at once?”
Barwick cited the impact on Queenstown and the west coast, where the residents will now be forced to make a five-hour return drive over tightly winding, icy roads to larger centres such as Burnie to do basic banking.
Queenstown has 4G internet, which crashes every day at 3.30pm when school children get out of school and on to their devices; there are regular phone drop-outs, so even for customers who are confident doing online banking the connectivity difficulties make it problematic, such as for two-factor authentication.
The region has many vulnerable elderly and disabled residents who depend on the face-to-face services and the local economy is very dependent on cash, so the small businesses need the bank to deposit their takings.
Residents forced to drive to Burnie will also do their shopping there, so the town will slowly bleed money and wither away, which is the experience of many other towns.
The Citizens Party asked Bendigo Bank when Richard Fennell last visited the Queenstown branch, but a spokesperson would only say ‘we are unable to help you at this time’.
From that evasive response, it’s likely Fennell has never visited the town he has condemned to a slow death.”
The government has done nothing to challenge Bendigo Bank branch closures and is clearly being dishonest when it claims to have secured regional banking services.
“On 24 July, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said in Parliament: ‘We are standing up for regional Australians, helping to secure the banking services they need and deserve. … banks have a responsibility to regional communities, and we’re holding them to it.’
“Really?” Barwick says. “That was three weeks after Bendigo Bank announced its ten branch closures, and the same week it announced the 28 agency closures.
“What has the government done about that? Nothing.”
The Australian Citizens Party is an independent, federally-registered political party, founded in 1988. It is committed to policies that promote the economic development of Australia for the benefit of all its people, not just the vested corporate interests which have too much influence over the major political parties. It takes its inspiration from the "old Labor" party stalwarts including King O'Malley, who fought to establish Australia's national bank, the Commonwealth Bank, and John Curtin and Ben Chifley, who used the Commonwealth Bank to lead the economic mobilisation that saved Australia in WWII. The ACP fought against the privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank, which has concentrated financial power in Australia in the Big Four banking oligopoly that gouges short-term profits at the expence of Australians and the nation's economic development, and is campaigning to re-establish a national bank, modelled on the old Commonwealth Bank, as a government post office bank which would guarantee face-to-face banking services, and access to cash, for all communities, and break the Big Four banking oligopoly.
