Media Release

KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter together with KAP Candidate for Leichhardt Daniel McCarthy have slammed the potential regulations imposed onto Australian owner/operators following the release of the final report of the Royal Commission labelling them ‘unfair’ and ‘pro bank’.
Mr Katter said this proved the LNP Royal Commission was ineffective with its watered-down terms of reference now hanging owner/operator businesses out to dry.
Speaking from the Holden showroom at the Cairns-based Ireland Motors this morning, Mr Katter said that the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industries was supposed to target the banks but instead they went after mortgage brokers and small business owner/operators.
“APRA and ASIC should have been abolished. On the evidence presented there is not the slightest doubt that they were not just ineffective, they were counterproductive,” he said.
Mr Katter referenced two North Queensland cases of the thousands of cases reviewed and said that where there should have been justice, instead there was a bank white-wash.
“They (APRA/ASIC) said, there was nothing wrong in the sale of a North Queensland sugar mill worth $200m sold for $2m. 39 of the 240 farmers stood up and they secured a $23m in an out of court settlement. And yet ASIC said there was ‘no problem’ when nearly a tenth of the farmers got an out of court settlement worth $23m! Not only are they blood suckers, but they have no sense of shame.
“Again they said there was nothing wrong when a mining company in North Queensland backed docking their contractors’ and workers’ wages for $100m, and then sold the assets to the minority partners. So when the dust had settled, substantially, the same people owned the company, but they had no debt.
“There is not a person in this country that has had dealings with APRA and ASIC that wouldn’t describe them as lapdogs, not watchdogs.”
Mr Katter said the Royal Commission had kicked out at the small owner/operator mortgage consultants and owner/operator car dealers and that it seemed to him that the qualifications of being criticised are that they are small and little and they can’t hit back.
“The stench coming out of Canberra is obscene, and it is not against a particular party or a particular leader. When small minor parties and independents are regularly scoring 30 per cent of the vote, and the crossbenchers are now climbing towards 10 per cent of the representation in Parliament, well the ignorance can no longer be overlooked and there has to be a new order.”
Mr Katter said, “The only two groups they wanted action taken against were the little owner/operators. And the big corporates profit by eliminating them. So is this anti-bank or is this pro-bank?”
—ENDS—