MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Mr Frydenberg, good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
As my colleague Dan Ziffer notes in the six months since the Royal Commission was handed down, there have been more books written about the Royal Commission than recommendations implemented. Why has it taken so long to get to this point?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, actually, we've implemented 15 commitments that we announced in response to the Royal Commission. There were 76 recommendations overall, 54 of those were directed at the Federal Government, 12 were directed at the regulators, and 10 were to the industry bodies and we've already passed legislation, for example, to prevent superannuation funds, treating employers and inducing them to select that particular superannuation fund as their default fund. We've increased the penalties, we've conducted a major review of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority by Graeme Samuel and there's a number of other pieces of legislation that have either been introduced into the Parliament or released for an exposure draft and comment.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The bulk of recommendations, in fact all of them, as you say, won't be fully in place until the end of next year, so that's what, 17 months down the track. Why is that process going to take so long?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, actually, about a third of the commitments will either be implemented or introduced into the Parliament by the end of this year. Around 90 per cent of the commitments will either be implemented or introduced by mid next year and then the remainder by the end of next year. This is, as you said in your introduction, Michael, the most significant and far‑reaching set of reforms to the financial services sector in three decades and we're actually moving in record time to implement them. If you bear in mind the experience of the Future of Financial Advice legislation, which the Labor Party introduced when they were last in government, there was two years between the receipt of that committee's report and the actual introduction of legislation. So we're proceeding carefully but we're also proceeding effectively and swiftly.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The corporate watchdog, ASIC, tells us it's on the eve of what it calls a litigation blitz. Treasurer, when are we going to see, and I'm asking this question on behalf of so many viewers who ask this question, when are we going to see the first bank executive or banking director go to jail?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, obviously there are very sensitive cases that ASIC is moving through its system and moving through the courts. Commissioner Hayne made 20 separate referrals, Michael, involving 14 different financial institutions. The matter of the timing and the specifics of those cases are ones for the regulator, not necessarily for the Government. But Commissioner Hayne did point out in his final report, that, overwhelmingly, the misconduct that he identified was actually in breach of existing laws which begs the question, why weren't the regulators pursuing them through the courts? Why were they preferring negotiation over litigation? And that's why where I think you're now seeing ASIC acting with greater haste.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay, so on that basis you'd like that litigation followed with serious penalties including jail terms?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we have increased the penalties very significantly but, as I've said, these are sensitive pieces of litigation and those are matters for ASIC and APRA as independent regulators, not for Government.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Just a couple of other questions before we go, do you share the concerns by a group of Liberal back‑benchers about the Chinese Government exercising too much sway on Australian university campuses?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We're always wanting to ensure that the Australian laws are upheld and that there is no foreign interference or foreign influence in our domestic matters, that's why we pass through the Parliament ground-breaking legislation in that regard and I know that our law enforcement, intelligence agencies together with our relevant ministers are very focused on this because we want to ensure that whether it's activities on campus or activities in other sectors of the economy, they're always done in a way that pursues our national interests, not others.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay, and as somebody who has had more than his few run‑ins with Sydney shock jock Alan Jones and given this man's ‑ it's a serious question ‑ given this man's repeated violent language toward women, particularly women in power, is the time for him to be taken – has arrived now for him to be taken off the airwaves?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
In relation to those comments, they were clearly inappropriate and the Prime Minister, I think, spoke for all of us when he said they were out of line and they should not have been made. I've obviously taken issue with Alan on‑air about a number of comments that he has made in that regard. But as for his longevity on the airwaves, that's a matter for the particular broadcasters in question. But I do want to acknowledge, Alan Jones is also a mainstay of our media and he's been around for a long time and he has a lot of followers and you don't want to deny that he's a very powerful advocate for the causes, including for regional Australia, that he pursues.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
He's not a powerful advocate, though, when it comes to denigrating women, is he?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, those comments are completely inappropriate and the Prime Minister and I and others have said so and at the same time, you know, you've seen Alan Jones pursue causes to the benefit of the communities that he broadcasts into and, for example, the work that he's done around drought and flood and the victims in Queensland and New South Wales, I think, has been very significant.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us on News Breakfast.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you