1 - Who stands for the people's bank
Oct 16, 2026 · 5 min · 5 segments
1 - Who stands for the people's bank by Australian Citizens Party
Oct 16, 2026 · 5 min · 5 segments
1 - Who stands for the people's bank by Australian Citizens Party
Who stands for the People's Bank? The People's Bank got mentioned twice in the media this last week.
On the 14th of October, Gareth Hutchens noted in an ABC News article about Australia's obsession with property values and interest rates, that in the past, a people's bank that can compete on interest rates has been a popular idea.
Quote, "Back in 2009, six well-known economists, Dr. Nicholas Gruen, Christopher Joye, Professor Joshua Gans, Professor John Quiggin, Professor Stephen King, and Dr. Sam Wiley, caused a stir when they asked a question about Australia's economy: Is there a role for a publicly owned entity, akin to Kiwi Bank in New Zealand, to offer essential services in Australia's finance sector that leverage off unique government infrastructure, e.g. Australia Post, the tax system, and the government bond market? The media described their idea as a people's bank, and there was a lot of interest in it.
It clearly tapped into a deep desire in elements of Australian society to break free from the banking oligopoly and its links with inflation management." End quote.
The Citizens Party has been fighting for a people's bank since long before 2009.
In 2002, we published a full-page ad in The Australian newspaper with six hundred names of prominent community leaders, including former Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Dr. Jim Cairns, calling for a people's bank.
2009 was a turning point because of the global financial crisis, when gambling bankers blew up the system but got bailed out.
In 2017, the Australian Greens responded to the Citizens Party's campaign to indicate their support for a public bank and a royal commission.
In 2019, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts reiterated his party's support for the Citizens Party's banking policy.
Under our influence, One Nation has advocated a people's bank since 1998 and enshrined it in its constitution in 2017.
The opposition to the People's Bank has always come from the private banking cartel's lobby, the Australian Banking Association, ABA.
The ABA successfully blocked a banking royal commission for years and then blocked the implementation of key recommendations afterwards, including million-dollar fines for bank executives culpable in bank misconduct.
In 2021, the ABA hijacked the Regional Banking Taskforce established to examine bank branch closures in the regions and used its control to ensure the final report rejected the Citizens Party's call for a people's bank in post offices, saying it would contravene national competition policy, which restricts governments from, quote, "unfairly competing with the private sector." In a 2023 Senate hearing on regional bank branch closures, ABA boss Anna Bligh ridiculed the People's Bank idea when questioned by Senator Roberts, likening it to communism.
Ironically, last week, her replacement as ABA boss, Simon Birmingham, announced the ABA had requested an exemption from national competition policy so the private banks could operate out of the same regional hubs to maintain banking services in the regions.
So the ABA wants competition policy enforced to prevent a people's bank, but they want an exemption for the private banking oligopoly to work openly together.
Who stands for the People's Bank? The People's Bank got mentioned twice in the media this last week.
On the 14th of October, Gareth Hutchens noted in an ABC News article about Australia's obsession with property values and interest rates, that in the past, a people's bank that can compete on interest rates has been a popular idea.
Quote, "Back in 2009, six well-known economists, Dr. Nicholas Gruen, Christopher Joye, Professor Joshua Gans, Professor John Quiggin, Professor Stephen King, and Dr. Sam Wiley, caused a stir when they asked a question about Australia's economy: Is there a role for a publicly owned entity, akin to Kiwi Bank in New Zealand, to offer essential services in Australia's finance sector that leverage off unique government infrastructure, e.g. Australia Post, the tax system, and the government bond market? The media described their idea as a people's bank, and there was a lot of interest in it.
It clearly tapped into a deep desire in elements of Australian society to break free from the banking oligopoly and its links with inflation management." End quote.
The Citizens Party has been fighting for a people's bank since long before 2009.
In 2002, we published a full-page ad in The Australian newspaper with six hundred names of prominent community leaders, including former Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Dr. Jim Cairns, calling for a people's bank.
2009 was a turning point because of the global financial crisis, when gambling bankers blew up the system but got bailed out.
In 2017, the Australian Greens responded to the Citizens Party's campaign to indicate their support for a public bank and a royal commission.
In 2019, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts reiterated his party's support for the Citizens Party's banking policy.
Under our influence, One Nation has advocated a people's bank since 1998 and enshrined it in its constitution in 2017.
The opposition to the People's Bank has always come from the private banking cartel's lobby, the Australian Banking Association, ABA.
The ABA successfully blocked a banking royal commission for years and then blocked the implementation of key recommendations afterwards, including million-dollar fines for bank executives culpable in bank misconduct.
In 2021, the ABA hijacked the Regional Banking Taskforce established to examine bank branch closures in the regions and used its control to ensure the final report rejected the Citizens Party's call for a people's bank in post offices, saying it would contravene national competition policy, which restricts governments from, quote, "unfairly competing with the private sector." In a 2023 Senate hearing on regional bank branch closures, ABA boss Anna Bligh ridiculed the People's Bank idea when questioned by Senator Roberts, likening it to communism.
Ironically, last week, her replacement as ABA boss, Simon Birmingham, announced the ABA had requested an exemption from national competition policy so the private banks could operate out of the same regional hubs to maintain banking services in the regions.
So the ABA wants competition policy enforced to prevent a people's bank, but they want an exemption for the private banking oligopoly to work openly together.
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