Senator GIBBS (3:36 PM) —Madam Deputy President, I am speechless. I just cannot follow that act. That was absolutely superb! I think I might just throw in the towel! I really thought that we were talking about the Commonwealth Bank. I will do my best to follow the senator opposite.

Senator Ian Campbell —Make it your personal best!

Senator GIBBS —Okay, here we go. I noted that in Senator Alston's answer to Senator Faulkner's question he said he was sure that Mr Murray was not resorting to self-interest or the self-interest of other corporate people. That astounds me. My colleague Senator Hogg went into great detail about the salary that Mr Murray earns—in excess of $2 million, and shares and share options in excess of $50 million. I have a document here which says that, during the past three years, all executives of the Commonwealth Bank, including Mr Murray, have received $129 million worth of share options. If this isn't self-interest, what is? It astounds me that Mr Murray can ask the government to be more sympathetic to senior corporate executives who have company shares. I would have thought that the sympathy should go to the general public and, in particular, to the poor and disadvantaged in our society who happen to be clients and customers of the Commonwealth Bank.

An article in the Financial Review today refers to the increase in fees from $2 to $3 by the Commonwealth Bank. If you want to take your own money out of the bank, over the counter, you have to pay a fee of $3. I think the article actually sums it up when we are talking about the disadvantage in our community. It is titled `CBA fee claims don't wash':

This was on 14 September. To continue:

I think that is pretty typical of what is happening with the Commonwealth Bank.

I am running out of time, but I want to note that this fee increase of $2 to $3 has been put on the Australia Post giroPost network. There are 2,800 outlets of giroPost in Australia. Particularly in the regional and rural areas, this is the service that people today have to rely on. It is the only service in some areas because all the banks have closed. The banks have closed because of greed. They do not want to service people because they think a small rural community is just not worth servicing. So this service is the only service that these people have and it is absolutely appalling that for every transaction that people in the country make they have to pay $3. It is just not on. The government has to do something about the greed of the banks. It is getting worse and worse. Charges and fees are going up all the time. Do something about it. (Time expired)

Question resolved in the affirmative.