House Standing Committee on Economics (part 2 of 2) — hearing of 18 November 2025: transcript & video · Polyfact

Free trial Learn more

Australia en

Language

Videos

Australia en

Language

Learn more Log in Free trial

House Standing Committee on Economics (part 2 of 2)

18 November 2025

Speaker dots

Speakers in the chapter
Colour: political group
Grey: no group

Tap or click a chapter's dots to see names and groups.

Contents updated on 22 Oct 2026

The committee examines Westpac’s Pacific operations, deposit and mortgage product settings, ASIC and ACCC concerns about customer eligibility and remediation, and regional banking access including branch closures, Bank@Post, interchange caps, SME lending competitiveness and protections for low‑income customers.

Layout

Layout Balanced Video, transcript and chat in equal parts Video Larger player Reading Wider transcript

Legend

Transcript markers

text Sentence being played
text Search result
text Intervention cited by the link you opened

Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.

More options

Official source

Offset

Transcript offset

0s

Text size

Export

Select segments to export (Word)

0 segments selected

Retail banking practices, consumer outcomes and regional access

00:01

Pacific operations and consumer deposit practices

00:01

Pacific banking guarantee and RBA payments review

00:01

Deposit bonus interest hurdles and ACCC findings

01:35

Mortgage offset accounts — ASIC concerns, liability and remediation

19:40

ASIC offset accounts concern — internal review and findings

19:40

Offset account errors — onus, remediation and escalation

23:35

Minister: clarification of liability and compensation in offset cases

25:58

Regional access, competition, fees and consumer protections

34:51

Regional banking, Bank@Post and branch moratorium

34:51

Interchange regulation, rewards funding and SME impacts

38:18

Business lending competition and product innovation

43:28

Low‑income customer fees, product design and advice constraints

56:48

Technology, AI deployment, scam controls and victim redress

27:07

AI in banking — use cases, safeguards and workforce impacts

27:07

AI deployment in scams and mortgages — productivity and roles

27:07

AI and customers — human oversight, safety and accountability

33:13

Preparing staff for AI — training, uptake and culture

45:53

AI chatbots, customer experience and escalation to humans

01:06:24

Energy policy certainty, AI transparency and workforce transition planning

01:21:55

Scam prevention, financial‑crime controls and victim redress

48:09

Bank investment in scam prevention and ecosystem responsibility

48:09

Scam victims, high‑risk cohorts and international lessons

52:55

Using KYC, AML and fusion centres against mule accounts and financial crime

01:48:28

Scam victims, NDAs and access to redress

01:51:13

Cost reduction, workforce practices, climate finance and housing policy

01:01:06

Cost‑cutting, governance, pay equity and wage remediation

01:01:06

Cost-cutting agenda, governance safeguards and the Unite simplification program

01:01:06

Gender pay gap, role mix and flexibility for women

01:16:47

Underpayments, Fair Work enforceable undertaking and locating former staff

01:29:15

Energy transition, climate finance, housing and macroeconomic outlook

01:09:48

Energy transition, power prices and capital costs

01:09:48

Housing affordability, median incomes and regional supply

01:32:18

Climate commitments, Scope 3 lending criteria and net‑zero feasibility

01:35:02

Short‑term macro risks, growth and public vs private demand

01:39:48

Renewables, gas firming and coal alternatives — investment preferences and costs

01:42:36

Solar project risk, capacity mechanism subsidies and private returns

01:54:13

Procedural wrap‑up and next hearing schedule

01:57:08

Formal closing of the public hearing

01:57:08

Closing procedural remarks and next hearings

01:57:08

House Standing Committee on Economics (part 2 of 2)

18 November 2025

House Standing Committee on Economics Tue, 18 Nov 2025 Australian Parliament

00:01 - 00:22

Speaker 1

Banks, participants in the payment system that had any such cynical view on, on that. I think, what I would acknowledge, though, is process is underway, a review is underway, and I just wanna commend the Reserve Bank for, agreeing to do more work to really sort of get to the bottom of what's the right outcome for Australia.

00:22 - 00:34

Speaker 22

Perfect. Thank you. And, on another topic, do Westpac plan on negotiating a Pacific banking banking guarantee, with the government similar to ANZ's guarantee for their Pacific operations?

00:34 - 01:28

Speaker 2

We've committed to stay in The Pacific, and, we're honored to do that because we were banking and have been banking in the region for well over a hundred years in both Fiji and PNG in particular. We see it as a a responsibility to Australia that we continue to bank, those two markets and bank them well. And I would just wanna acknowledge that the government has been tremendous in terms of, supporting us on, making sure we stay active in those countries to protect Australia's interests, given the current global setting that we're in the middle of. As to in specific, partnership arrangements, etcetera, we're comfortable with where we are today, and we continue to discuss with the government what's what's potentially needed to make sure we can bank PNG and Fiji safely. So there's no...

01:28 - 01:30

Speaker 21

Nothing specific needed from us at the moment.

The rest of the transcript is for Pro customers

Unlock the full transcript, chat, and every analysis feature with Polyfact Pro.

The video itself stays free to watch, in full, no account needed.

Start a free trial

Australian Parliament

Read the full session, transcribed live

One free trial opens the sessions transcribed word for word, with AI summaries and chat, the biographies of your parliament's members, alerts, and your questions to Claude or ChatGPT.

Live transcript, every speaker identified
The biography of every member of your parliament, with its assistant
Alerts on your keywords, and your questions to Claude or ChatGPT

Every video is free to watch, live and on replay, no account needed.

14-day free trial · cancel anytime

Free trial Learn more

Already have an account? Log in

Australian Parliament

Read the full session, transcribed live

One free trial opens the sessions transcribed word for word, with AI summaries and chat, the biographies of your parliament's members, alerts, and your questions to Claude or ChatGPT.

Live transcript, every speaker identified
The biography of every member of your parliament, with its assistant
Alerts on your keywords, and your questions to Claude or ChatGPT

Every video is free to watch, live and on replay, no account needed.

14-day free trial · cancel anytime

Free trial Learn more

Already have an account? Log in

Keyboard shortcuts

Playback

Play / pause: Space
Back / forward 15 s: ←→
Back / forward 10 s: JL
Full screen: F

Chapters and transcript

Previous / next chapter: PN
Search the transcript: /
Turn follow on / off: S
Copy the current sentence as a quote: C
Show this help: ?

Single-key shortcuts J, L, N, P, C, S, / and ?. Turn them off if you use voice control or assistive tech that types letters.

Inactive while a text field, a button or the chat has focus.