Banks back in spotlight PrintIncrease Text SizeDecrease Text Size16 Oct, 2013 01:00 AMAMBER ATKINSON Rural Action Movement (RAM) president and Salmon Gums farmer Greg Kenny.Rural Action Movement (RAM) president and Salmon Gums farmer Greg Kenny. BANKS are back in the spotlight after calls for another Senate Inquiry into the Australian banking sector. While recommendations from the Senate Economics inquiry into the post-GFC banking sector, which wound up late last year, have been all but forgotten, Rural Action Movement (RAM) president and Salmon Gums farmer Greg Kenny refuses to give up. Mr Kenny is better known for dumping tonnes of grain on the front doorstep of Premier Colin Barnetts office in West Perth earlier this year. The move was in response to the State Governments financial relief package, which Mr Kenny described as meagre. Now his attention is focused on getting a more thorough examination to be carried out on financial institutions that are placing undue pressure on WA farm businesses. Banks these days have lost sight of what they are there for, he said. Theyre more concerned with their image and the ASX than extending credit to the farming community. Mr Kenny joins the likes of Member for Eyre Dr Graham Jacobs and Nationals Senator for New South Wales John Williams who have questioned the activities of Australian banking institutions. During the Senate Inquiry many allegations emerged that Bankwest was calling in its loans and pressuring businesses to sell up of many assets, some below market value. While it helped to highlight the extent of the claims, Senator Williams insists that nothing has been done in response to the findings. And Mr Kenny says there is evidence that banks have continued to push farm businesses to foreclose. He is seeking a specific inquiry into the behaviour of some banks towards farmers in recent years, and the consequences associated with the take over of loan books. He believes many problems would be avoided if Australia returned to a sovereign bank system. This would give the Federal Government supreme authority over Australias money supply. Mr Williams said he has some renewed faith after learning that Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey planned to launch a Sons of Wallis inquiry.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 03:11:12 +0000
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