June 26, 2018
State KAP Leader and member for Traeger Robbie Katter has congratulated Commissioner Kenneth Hayne for today extending the hearings into farming finance as part of the Royal Commission in Brisbane.
“Today, we have heard more stories of dodgy behaviour from the banks when dealing with farmers in regional Australia,’’ Mr Katter said.
“I applaud Commissioner Hayne for taking the step of extending the hearing of farming finance studies for the entire week.
“Queensland’s agriculture industry has been dealing with dodgy bank practices for many years but they have been swept under the carpet by successive governments.’’
Specifically, the Royal Commission is focusing on lending practices from ANZ following the bank’s acquisition of the Landmark rural finance business in 2009.
“The ANZ/Landmark case clearly highlighted that the business model of big banks doesn’t properly fit with the needs of the agriculture sector,’’ he said.
“When you’ve got an algorithm in Sydney making decisions about the capability of a beef producer in Julia Creek things will go of the rails.’’
As Chair of the 2016 Queensland Government-funded Rural Debt and Drought Taskforce, which recommended a royal commission to investigate the finance sector, Mr Katter introduced a Bill into Parliament for the creation of a Rural and Industries Development Bank.
“There is a big gap in the suitability of loans and products available,’’ he said.
“The bank would have been able to offer suitably-tailored loans to regional businesses which would have helped them stay afloat during the drought and become profitable once the market turned.
“Instead both Labor and the LNP voted against a development bank, in typical major party behaviour.’’