The second anniversary last week of the final report of the Hayne Royal Commission understandably stirred a media flurry over the government’s lack of enthusiasm for the implementation of many recommendations.
Reports focused on the fact that the government turned its back on responsible lending obligations with a pivot to what we usually refer to as caveat emptor – buyer beware.
During 2018 Australians spent a year watching a cattle call of bank executives, heads of advice divisions, directors of boards and other odds and sods get dragged over the hot coals by Kenneth Hayne and his team.
The royal commission was preceded by almost two decades of parliamentary committee inquiries looking at the conduct of financial advisers and their institutions.
A long line of Senators over the period expressed concern about the behaviour of financial institutions of various sizes and colours. Former Senator John Williams spent time chasing bankers and financiers up hill and down dale ever since the Storm Financial and Opes Prime sagas. He and then-Senate colleagues such as Sam Dastyari targeted the banking sector as one requiring the attention of a royal commission.
It should not be forgotten that ‘Wacka’ Williams and his Senate colleagues were unable to persuade the Federal Government of the need for a royal commission for a very long time.
The public were introduced to various whistleblowers such as Jeff Morris through these inquiries. Morris’ archive remains a treasure trove of material for those wanting to bury themselves in evidence of poor advisory practices.
Two things had to happen to for the hand of Malcolm Turnbull (the then-Prime Minister who thought regular public flogging before a parliamentary committee would be the way to go) and that of former Treasurer Scott Morrison, to be forced.
Those two things were the National Party getting ready to go rogue, and a letter from the banks subject to the inquiry.
The banks wrote a letter to the Federal Government during November of 2017 to advocate for a royal commission that had a tight time frame and terms of reference set by the government. What we all need to remember is that the numbers of the floor of parliament were getting to the point where Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull faced the prospect of coalition members crossing the floor.
It is a sobering reflection that it took the banks, the most powerful institutions in the finance sector in this country, to write a letter to convince the government to take political control of the process.
A key stakeholder group that was always going to be conflicted because of the very fact the royal commission was about them wrote a letter to press for establishing one.
This point requires greater emphasis in the telling of the story of how the Hayne Royal Commission came about.
The history of how the royal commission came about is just as relevant today for an understanding to who and what the government is listening to in dealing with specific recommendations from the royal commission.
Coronavirus challenges are being used as the cover for various changes, pivots