Maybe Ken Henry did display ‘attitude’, and maybe he didn’t want to give simple ‘yes/no’ answers, but your report was too tough on him in comparison to some of the miscreants who gave evidence at your hearings. [ Jessica Irvine’s “From smart guy to fall guy” (The Age 9/2) shows Ken Henry’s career had been stellar up until his chairmanship of the NAB. A great irony eluded her, however. Mortgage debt/bank profit is built upon the growth in land prices, particularly during real estate booms. Was it not “The Henry Tax Review” which argued why a land tax should replace a number of Australia’s ineffective taxes? Would this not have acted to keep a lid on Australia’s real estate bubble (which chairmen of the big four banks had to deny existed), and to curtail many of the banking rorts which arose in such a heady market? ]
I see what you hope to do by having clients pay mortgage brokers’ fees, but it will have savage repercussions on the industry. They were set up by banks to be their ‘patsies’:-
