2017-08-09
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, responded today to the Commonwealth Bank’s record profit announcement.
“The announcement of a $10 billion profit by Commonwealth Bank is emblematic of what is wrong with the Australian economy.
“Despite having a record of bad behaviour as long as your arm, CBA is making record profits and paying their executives millions and millions while ordinary Australians watch their wages freeze and the cost of housing spiral out of control.
“CBA’s record profit is underpinned by a housing affordability crisis that is creating inequality on a generational scale and that is sucking the life out of the economy.
“CBA’s bottom line is built on the back of people struggling to meet their mortgage payments and struggling to pay their rent.
“It is easy to understand why so many Australians see the banks as parasites on the great Australian dream that is dying before our eyes.
“And where is the government? They continue to stick their head in sand. Nothing to fix the housing affordability crisis and anything they can think of to avoid a Royal Commission into the banks.
“If a trade union was in the same position as CBA or any of the other major banks, the coalition would be going to war. But the banks are their mates and so they are happy to sit back and be spectators," he concluded.
Media Release Treasury