ED HUSIC MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION
MEMBER FOR CHIFLEY
STEPHEN JONES MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND SUPERANNUATION
MEMBER FOR WHITLAM
Labor is renewing its call for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services to include Greensill Capital in the scope of its inquiry into supply chain financing.
Today’s committee hearing did not hear from Greensill Capital whose dealing in supply chain financing and subsequent collapse put enormous pressure on Australian businesses.
Labor believes the committee must call Greensill Capital representatives including the company’s high profile lobbyist, Ms Julie Bishop.
Labor’s attempts to clarify dealings between Greensill Capital and the government have been consistently frustrated, including by the Prime Minister who has refused to answer Senate Estimates questions on notice reasoning it would be an ‘unnecessary diversion of resources.’
It has been reported that Coalition members of the Committee blocked any examination of Greensill Capital or Julie Bishop’s lobbying on its behalf saying it would happen over their “dead body”.
The idea that a Committee can make a legitimate and informed decision on the need for further investigation into the regulations around supply chain financing in Australia, while leaving out the most cautionary tale in the sector, makes a mockery of this parliamentary process.
In the UK, several substantial and genuine inquiries have exposed Greensill Capital’s purchasing of proximity to power and highlighted glaring and troubling problems with Greensill’s financial products, and how they were sold.
This Committee needs to hear from Greensill Capital and Ms Bishop so it can truly understand what regulatory improvements must be made to the operations of supply chain finance in Australia.