Weekly Update: 10.02.23

“Inflation is still unacceptably high, and it will stay higher than we want it to for longer than we want it to. But there is growing evidence that inflation is now around its peak and will begin to moderate in 2023.” 
– Treasurer Jim Chalmers, ‘Responsible Labor budget to tackle inflation’, The Australian, Feb 2023.

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Parliamentary Update:

• Housing Minister Julie Collins introduced a major legislation package into the House:
  • The Housing Australia Fund Bill 2023 will create the Housing Australia Future Fund.
  • The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Bill 2023 will establish the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council as an independent statutory advisory body.
  • The Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 changes the name of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to Housing Australia and streamlines its functions.
     
• The Treasury Laws Amendment (Modernising Business Communications and Other Measures) Bill 2023 passed the House and is now before the Senate.
   
• Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones released the Quality of Advice Review authored by Michelle Levy. Jones also announced a review of the Modernising Business Register.
   
• Several Nationals MPs made statements in the Parliament about regional banking services and branches:
  • Darren Chester, Member for Gippsland (speech 1 & speech 2)
  • Colin Boyce, Member for Flynn
  • Michael McCormack, Member for Riverina
  • Mark Coulton, Member for Parkes
  • Anne Webster, Member for Mallee
  • Senator McDonald, Senator for QLD
     
• Coalition Senators Gerard Rennick and Slade Brockman successfully moved a motion to commence a new Senate Committee inquiry into bank closures in regional Australia, to report by 1 December 2023.
   

Treasurer Jim Chalmers wrote an opinion piece in The Australian outlining a three-point plan to address inflation

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Policy Update:

• ABA meet with the Asian Development Bank
• ABA attend a COSBOA roundtable
• ABA meet with the Department of Climate Change and the Climate Change Authority
• ABA attended a round table hosted by the Department of Climate Change on the Nature Repair market exposure draft
• ABA attended an Econveyancing Interoperability Committee meeting chaired by NSW Register General

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Economic Update:

• New housing lending continues to track sideways, flattening some of the increased volumes seen in 2020-21. Refinancing volumes continue to exceed completely new lending as customers increasingly refinancing with a new lender, with twice as many borrowers (150,000) refinance with a new lender as with their current bank (70,000) in the same period.

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New lending, Owner-occupiers, Number and value ($m), July 2019 – December 2022

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Communications and media update:

• The ABA managed a series of key media issues relating to the RBA interest rate rise, the ACCC inquiry into deposit rates, the launch of a senate inquiry into bank branch closures, and scams

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Upcoming Events:

• Friday 17 February 2023
Trans-Tasman Business Circle Annual Economic Forecast 2023
Sydney Hilton (11:30am – 2:00pm).

• Wednesday 8 March 2023
Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender-equal future
Minter Ellison, Sydney (3:30pm – 7:00pm).

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Submissions Lodged:

• National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill
• Strategic Plan for the Payments System: Consultation Paper
• Consumer Data Right rules and data standards design paper for non-bank lending sector

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Upcoming Submissions:

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Selected Media:

• AFR – Banks chiefs face Senate probe on branch closures
• ACCC to demand proof banks are doing right by savers
• Financial Review – ‘A role for the regulator’: Chalmers warns banks to lift saving rates

• News.com.au – Anna Bligh on The Today Show

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