CommInsure review ‘offensive to victims’, says senator

Labor Senator Katy Gallagher said in a statement that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s protection of the banks and his failure to call a royal commission into the banks is allowing CBA to brush off the CommInsure scandal with a ‘nothing to see here’ report.

“Publishing a report without interviewing a single customer is simply inadequate and offensive to the victims of this scandal,” Ms Gallagher said.

“Labor will continue to fight for a royal commission because we know it is the only way to shine a light on the misconduct and cultural issues in the banks that have led to thousands of Australians, including small businesses, being ripped off or treated unfairly by them.

“Malcolm Turnbull needs to stop protecting the banks and do what is in the interests of the Australian banking consumers and establish a royal commission.”

Also, Maurice Blackburn superannuation and insurance principal Josh Mennen said the law firm has concerns around how comprehensive the review has been, as it confirms that no customers have been interviewed as part of the investigation.

Further, Mr Mennen noted that no claims staff were interviewed as part of the review.

“The terms of reference for this report appear to have been very carefully limited to ensure an outcome that does not fully account for what was clearly a dark period within CBA,” he said.

“While we welcome CBA releasing more information with respect to CommInsure’s claims handling, it is disappointing to see that this continues to show a failure from the organisation to learn from the mistakes of the past in acknowledging poor claims handling and treatment of members.”

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].