CANBERRA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's opposition has said it is open to establishing a new agency to prosecute bankers.
Clare O'Neil, the Australian Labor Party (ALP)'s financial services spokesperson, said that the party would consider a "civil enforcement agency" to take over from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) if victorious at the upcoming general election.
The move comes after the landmark Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry found that ASIC allowed systematic misconduct to become commonplace under its watch.
Commissioner Kenneth Hayne criticized the body for striking deals with companies found to have committed wrongdoing rather than prosecuting them.
ALP identified a 200 million Australian dollars (142 million USD) funding shortfall for ASIC since the governing Liberal-National Party coalition (LNP) took power in 2013.
"Commissioner Hayne has given us an alternative and we note that it's there. He's given us an additional option should things not change," O'Neil told Fairfax Media on Thursday.
The number of criminals imprisoned from ASIC prosecutions fell to six in 2018, half the usual number. It imposed only 15,100 Australian dollars (10,729 U.S. dollars) in criminal fines.
"The starting point for consideration is, and must always be, that the law is to be obeyed and enforced," Hayne wrote in his final report.
"The rule of law requires no less. And, adequate deterrence of misconduct depends upon visible public denunciation and punishment."
Jim Chalmers, an ALP finance spokesman, on Thursday accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of "running a protection racket for the big banks" after the prime minister refused to hold additional parliamentary sitting weeks to enshrine Hayne's 76 recommendations in law.
"There are a whole range of things that we have nominated that we could act on immediately," Chalmers told News Corp Australia.
"I think what has happened here is that the government's squibbed a response to the royal commission (and it) has confirmed people's worst fears about them: that running a protection racket for the big banks is second nature to the Liberal Party and particularly for Scott Morrison who voted against the royal commission 26 times."
"If they are serious about this royal commission, if they are serious about implementing the recommendations, then they would agree to the proposal that the parliament sits for another fortnight in March."
Michael Keenan, the Australian minister for Human Services, described Labor's request for additional sitting dates as political "grandstanding."
"There's plenty of time for the parliament to do what it needs to do to address any issues of concern to us," Keenan told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio.
"The government is not going to be changing the sitting pattern."
"It's very clear how long we're going to sit prior to the election. That gives the parliament ample opportunity to do what it needs to do."
The general election is due to be held in May with the ALP currently holding an election-winning lead in opinion polls.
Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver the federal budget on April 2 which is expected to include the nation's first surplus in a decade.
