Page 684 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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MR SPEAKER: The question now is: That Mr Berry's amendment be agreed to.
Question resolved in the negative.
MR SPEAKER: The question now is: That Mr Collaery's motion be agreed to.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
WESTPAC BANK
Statement by Member
MR MOORE, by leave: Mr Speaker, the Federal Court case of Australian Bank Employees Union v. Westpac Banking Corporation was about the dismissal of the manager of Westpac's Kingaroy branch in Queensland following an incident involving the Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. The incident was related - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Moore, I draw your attention to a ruling I gave earlier on the Westpac issue, namely, that the documents are not to be tabled, nor their contents disclosed. I would ask for your assurance that you are not going to break that ruling.
MR MOORE: I assure you that I will respect that ruling, Mr Speaker.
The incident was related to a payment of $400,000 from the Bond Corporation to Sir Joh that subsequently leaked to the press. The manager of that branch, Mr Nuttall, was sacked by the Chief General Manager, Retail Finance Services, Mr Stuart Fowler. Mr Fowler has since been promoted to Managing Director of Westpac. Justice Keely said:
... I have come to the firm conclusion that Mr Fowler gave a number of untruthful answers, which were intended to mislead the court; I say reluctantly because it is a conclusion rarely expressed by me as to any witness. Further, in a significant number of instances, he did not give frank answers to the questions asked. Specifically, I reject as untrue each of his statements in evidence.
Mr Speaker, Mr Fowler was in charge of the foreign loans at Westpac during the period in which, shall we say, the bank was negligent and incompetent, but which we now know includes the theft of clients' money and tax evasion. Mr Fowler, now as Managing Director, is seeking to cover up the past, issuing a media release which states that tax reasons were not relevant to the bank's Singapore operations.
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