Australian banks making a mint out of NZ

By Russell Marshall

In the last few weeks the largely Australian owned banks which dominate our banking landscape in this country have been reporting their full-year results.  The ANZ made ‘another record-breaking profit’ this time of $1.27 billion, an increase of 17% in the year to September.

The ASB’s $685 million profit represented an increase of 21%.  Those Australian shareholders must be very pleased. When the chips are down banks are driven more than ever today by the need to benefit those who own them. These and other such stories make me feel uncomfortable, especially at a time of growing unemployment.

Bank customers here and elsewhere are beginning to talk about the power which banks have and how that power is exercised.

I am reminded of the wise advice Saint Paul gave to Timothy to the effect that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Huge bank profits notwithstanding, the widening income gap here and elsewhere, and the inevitable corollary of growing poverty and unemployment, is a major evil.

Note: There may be a state asset which the government could safely sell to cheers rather than protests. Successive governments have made it impossible for Television New Zealand to fulfil properly its responsibilities to New Zealand citizens. Is there any reason whey they should not sell it? We could then work on all political parties to develop real state TV broadcasting policies, without fetters such as paying dividends.

Clark on possible UN reforms

Recently former Prime Minister Helen Clerk, these days head of the United Nations Development Programme, spoke at Victoria University about the challenge of making the necessary and overdue reform to the United Nations, its various agencies and other multilateral bodies.

As I heard an Indian academic once observe, the status quo represents the congealed violence of the past. The United Nations, and in particular the way in which the Security Council is chosen and operates, is a very good example.

The permanent member countries represent the victors from the Second World War. Two of them, France the UK, would not make any top five today.

There is also the vexed question of the veto, against which New Zealand made the loudest protests of any country when the United Nations was established. Helen Clark gave detailed comments on various agencies and the overall picture seemed to be that there is some progress in a few places, though not much in New York.

There is obviously a need for serious reform at the United Nations and the various international agencies.