Greens candidate for Keira Kit Docker is calling on the next NSW government to pursue brave and ambitious policy reform in the banking sector to give households greater choice and ease the cost of living pressure on their weekly budgets.
“As a former bank manager, it’s clear to me that banking is an essential service which so many people across our community depend upon, especially when it comes to the family home,” said Mr Docker. “But rather than work with families to achieve the dream of owning their own home, banks put profits front and centre.
“Despite already making billions in record profits, big banks continue to increase interest rates not out of necessity but greed. And this greed is pushing so many working families to the edge.
“Each week I’m talking with residents who are struggling under many pressures and the family mortgage is one hefty bill each week or fortnight. Mortgage repayments for many households are more than 40 percent of their weekly income. That’s placing a huge strain on their ability to afford the fundamentals, such as food, heating and clothing.
“If we were able to establish a public bank, we could help households with their cost of living as well as fund community projects that directly help local citizens.
“The Greens are proposing to establish a Public Bank for NSW so borrowers have a real choice between private banks who work for shareholders and a public bank that's run by the public and for the public.
“A publicly-owned bank would also encourage more jobs as it could support small to medium businesses in our community.”
NSW Greens spokesperson for finance and banking Abigail Boyd MLC said: “Banking is an essential public service but in Australia it has been entirely privatised. This has left us at the mercy of a small group of big banks which, by design, will squeeze every last drop of profit out of the pockets of mortgage holders. The first step to wresting back control of our runaway banking system and to lower monthly mortgage payments is to re-establish a public banking option.
“With a public bank in NSW, we can not only offer cheaper mortgages and higher savings rates, we can inject some much needed competition into the banking sector and set a more ethical standard for the market here to follow.”