Mr. Kevin Johnson:

My response to Senator Grace O'Sullivan is consistent with what Mr. Molan just said. People have shown their support for the not-for-profit model. As was said, there are more than 3,000,000 members in 261 credit unions with more than 400 branches around the country. As my colleagues noted, people have also endorsed the customer experience by giving credit unions a rating of four out of a possible four, making them the number one. It is clear that people want, like and respect the credit union model. We contend that we have the model and if it is not complete, it is certainly more than the foundations. We also have the capital and we must ensure we use it effectively rather than watch it erode. We need to be allowed to reach out.

There are a couple of dimensions when we look at the core elements of banking and the culture of credit unions. One of them is reliability. As Mr. Molan just said, credit unions have been going from strength to strength over the last 50 odd years. While occasionally we might get something wrong, we always act in the best interest of the members who are both the owners and consumers. Credit unions act with honesty.

The challenge and possibly the gap that we have is one of competence. We are seeing greater collaboration on the credit union side to try to find viable ways to expand the services. As I stated, we urge all stakeholders to engage with us if they believe there are services that credit unions are not providing resulting in some perception of a vacuum. We need to understand that and will very happily include it in our plans. If there are obstacles, for example, regulations designed for another purpose, they will be considered. An open consultation has just commenced on lending frameworks for credit unions. This is a great opportunity to address any gaps that may exist. We would be very happy to engage with interested stakeholders.