Thursday, 20 November 2025

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:50): $10.3 billion in cash profit in one year is apparently not enough of a shareholder payout for Commonwealth Bank, so when Commonwealth Bank overcharged their most vulnerable customers they decided to give the shareholders that money too, by their own admission. The regulator, ASIC, found that Commonwealth Bank charged $270 million worth of excessive fees to vulnerable customers, and when questioned, the CEO said they do not want to give it back because that would take money away from their shareholders – the reverse Robin Hood Commonwealth Bank overcharging vulnerable Australians to give to rich American investors. This was money that they have taken from someone’s bank account unfairly, and this bank has no remorse. Commonwealth Bank is the most profitable bank in the world. These unfathomable profits are not normal, and I cannot comprehend the sheer greed of not giving that money back to who it belongs to. These banks do not care, but people in this country should. If we taxed these excessive superprofits, we could use that money to fund services that benefit people in this state, support our most vulnerable, instead of listening to a CEO justify why that money should collect dust in American billionaires’ overflowing bank accounts.