Professor Philip Lane:

I will not be drawn into the issues relating to this individual case, which is before the Workplace Relations Commission. The bank has absolutely no reason to aspire to anything but the highest standards and is and, I am sure, will be in the future totally dedicated to its very important public service mission of maintaining financial stability, protecting consumers and performing its other functions. As I said last week, part of that means being self-critical and involves the bank being as open as it can be in how it does its business. I see no reason for the bank to want to suppress awkward issues in any way, especially those, such as internal governance, which it can fix. These are issues on which everyone can agree, particularly those relating to internal audit. I imagine no one would argue against the points being made in the internal audit report on governance.