If you haven’t yet done so, write to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee today to demand they dump the APRA crisis management “bail-in” bill, and legislate a Glass-Steagall break-up of the Too-Big-To-Fail banks instead.
Ordinarily a committee like this would only receive a dozen or so submissions, from the likes of banking associations, APRA itself and other regulators. The issues would receive little scrutiny, the bill would be rubber-stamped, and the public would only know about it when they react in shock to losing their savings and are told it is legal—which has been the repeated experience of bail-in in Europe.
Every letter the committee receives from everyday Australians will force the Senators to realise this bill is dangerous, with far-reaching consequences that they’d better examine in detail before they vote on it. In this way Parliament can be forced to weigh up the disastrous bail-in approach to financial stability, versus the successful Glass-Steagall approach.
Bail-in is a complicated fraud. It’s intended to preserve the current system of casino banking, which preys on customers to feed the US$1.2 quadrillion (US$1,200 trillion) global derivatives bubble. Australia’s banks account for $36 trillion of this financial gambling. Bail-in allows the banks to continue the reckless and criminal practices that caused the 2008 crisis, and puts the risk for their losses on to their customers—you—who will have their savings bailed in!
The latest from Europe is that the authorities are proposing to adjust their bail-in law, to effectively scrap the €100,000 deposit guarantee. Remember that, when a politician reassures you that Australia’s $250,000 deposit guarantee will protect you. If they are going to allow banks to continue to gamble trillions of dollars, there will never be enough money to cover their losses, and APRA, which is closely connected to the European banking authorities, will look for ways around the deposit guarantee.
By contrast, a Glass-Steagall separation of deposit-taking banks from all other financial services, and all forms of speculation, is straightforward and secure. It’s the most successful banking regulation in history, having protected America’s banking system from any systemic crises for 66 years, 1933-1999. It ensures financial stability in the obvious way—by stopping banks from engaging in the speculative practices that cause instability! Glass-Steagall makes perfect sense to everybody … except bankers, who are desperate to keep gambling with deposits, and their political and media stooges, who are sell-outs.
While many G20 countries already have bail-in, Australia doesn’t, thanks to the CEC’s ongoing mobilisation since 2013. We can stop this bill, but it will require an all-in effort, starting with you writing to the committee today.
Write to the committee today
The deadline for submissions to the Senate committee is Monday 18 December, which will be upon us very quickly, so write a letter today. There are three ways to write to the Senate committee.
The committee staff have asked the CEC to direct people to use the Senate’s on-line submission process, which is at this link: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/OnlineSubmission
If you are computer literate and feel confident to make a submission this way, go ahead.
BUT, as some people may find that process complicated, the CEC recommends writing an actual physical letter, and mailing it to the committee. It will have a big impact on Senators that someone has gone to the effort to write and mail a latter.
The address of the committee is:
Senate Standing Committees on Economics
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
The third way is to email a letter to the committee, but please ensure that you have properly identified yourself with a name and address, so they know it is genuine. If you wish your letter to be private, and only read by the Senators, write “Confidential” at the top of the email (this also applies to physical letters). Email your letter to: economics.sen@aph.gov.au
REMEMBER: It doesn’t matter how long or how short your letter, or how you write it. Just say what you think about APRA getting bail-in powers, and the Glass-Steagall alternative.
Write today, and notify the CEC that you have done so, by email at cec@cecaust.com.au, or by calling our toll-free number 1800 636 432, so we can gauge how many letters are being sent.
(For essential background information you can use in your submission, click here for “Questions MPs must ask before they vote on the APRA crisis management—‘bail-in’—bill”.)
Click here for a free copy of the 22 November issue of the Australian Alert Service, which documents the disastrous instances where bail-in has been imposed in Europe. http://cecaust.com.au/main.asp?id=free_AAS_latest.html
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