Salvation

What happened then? New regulations. Oversight. Big new watchdogs to keep banks across the world in check. They made sure that it was safe to put money into banks, that they wouldn’t be reckless, that they played by the rules. And for 50 years, all was well. Not a single true financial crisis.

Then came the 80s. ‘Red Tape – it’s too much’; ‘Let’s get rid of the bureaucracy’ – the watchdog gets depowered, cut down. And the result? It smacks the US in the face – the Savings and Loan crisis – 700 banks crash out. Ten years later: Long Term Capital Management goes under – taking down assets across the globe. We go on and on – Enron falling apart; the GFC; till today. But Australia hasn’t learnt these lessons.

How many people need to suffer? A million? Ten million? A billion? How many before we realise that banks need regulation – that without it, we all suffer the effects of boom-then-bust, boom-then-bust?

Our regulatory agencies are asleep at the wheel. They’re undermanned, underfunded, underpowered. For years, APRA and ASIC were enough; they kept our banks in check and folks like you and me from being swallowed whole. But today, they have gone into a great slumber. Under the Turnbull Government, ASIC lost $26 million. Their culture

has changed too, as they make behind-closed-door deals with the banking industry, putting the banks’ interests above the people they purport to serve.

And perhaps the response to all this should be cynicism. The game is rigged. The army of suits and lobbyists will always win – there’s no point in trying to fight it. Perhaps the response is bigotry – we must blame the other, turn this into a war of them and us, create a scapegoat to distract us from reality.

But we must believe in the fair game. All of us. We must believe in equality. In opportunity. In a world where everyone, all 100%, can work hard and reap the rewards of it. Because the moment we stop believing in those lofty values, we may as well wave a white flag at endemic corruption.

Let us go forward together. Let us reclaim middle- and working-class dreams for all Australians, not just a few. Because if enough are willing to fight for a promise of tomorrow, if enough are willing to use their democratic voice to fight those who would seek to drown them out, and if enough see the need to bring banks into line, the dream of a brighter future can, and will, live on.

Calvin Blair - Year 11