Victorian bank levy
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:56): (1680) My adjournment matter tonight is to the Treasurer, and the action I seek is for her to introduce a levy on the big banks to help everyday Victorians. The RBA recently cut interest rates another quarter of a per cent. Let us be clear, and do not get me wrong, people will be pleased to see this cut. But in this cost-of-living crisis, it just does not seem like enough. With things like education, health care, groceries and rent increasing by 20 per cent, a quarter of a per cent cannot make up for that. But the big banks can afford to pass along this cut and more. Despite what they may say, the big banks can definitely afford to lower their mortgage rates. In the last six months alone, ANZ made record revenue of $11 billion in half-year results. So how can they be raking it in, breaking records, while so many are struggling? Allegedly part of it is explained by them underpaying their staff. Part of it comes from massive investments in things like fossil fuels, AI, you name it – if it makes them money, they will do it. But mostly their profits come from hardworking Victorians just trying to pay off their mortgage. The average home loan pays the big banks over $200,000 in pure profit alone, making Australian banks very profitable by world standards. Surely they could afford to pass on more than a measly quarter of a per cent cut. The big bank levy that I am proposing would barely affect these institutions, but it could make all the difference for people struggling to pay their mortgages, and it can pay for the schools, for the hospitals and for the services that we all rely on. Tax them and get it done.