Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public
Administration
Terms Of Reference
On 28 October 1997 the Treasurer, the Hon Peter Costello MP, asked the Committee
to inquire into:
alternative means of providing banking and like services in regional
and remote Australia to those currently delivered through the traditional
bank branch network.
Following the 1998 federal election, the inquiry was re - referred by
the Treasurer with the same terms of reference.
The inquiry has focussed on how individuals and small businesses in
regional Australia will access banking and like services in the future,
given that the rationalisation of the traditional bank branch network
is forecast to continue. The Committee's deliberations have also extended
to Recommendation 96 of the Wallis Report (that governments expedite "the
examination of alternative means of providing low-cost transaction services
for remote areas and for recipients of social security and other transfer
payments"). The inquiry has not examined the provision of investment services,
superannuation or insurance.
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