Ross McNaughton, strategic services general manager at National Australia Bank, is being questioned over NAB allowing a Queensland grazier’s debt to balloon to A$7.8 million from A$3.3 million by imposing punitive default payments over several years of drought and crashing prices. Recorded on 29 June 2018 at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Lynda Edwards, Financial Capability Coordinator at Financial Counselling Australia, and Nathan Boyle, analyst for the Indigenous Outreach Program at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), give evidence on how Aboriginal people with poor financial literacy are routinely targeted to buy useless insurance, dud cars and high-interest loans. Recorded on 3 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Statement by Commissioner Kenneth Hayne followed by Senior Counsel Assisting Michael Hodge’s opening address for the fifth round of public hearings focusing on the conduct of superannuation trustees in Australia at the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. Recorded on 6 August 2018 at the Owen Dixon Commonwealth Law Courts Building in Melbourne.

Bradley James, Rabobank’s regional manager for northern NSW and Queensland, is being questioned over the bank’s remuneration practise for rural bank managers, in light of cattle farmer Wendy Brauer falling on hard times after her Rabobank bank manager encouraged her to buy a A$3 million property as he chased a A$15m sales target. Recorded on 27 and 28 June 2018 at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Jason Peasley, head of mid-risk portfolios at Australian Super, is being questioned over the fund’s investment in renewable energy company Pacific Hydro and how Australian Super exerted its influence on IFM Investors, an infrastructure and property fund manager that is joint-owned by a number of industry super funds and was used for the takeover of Pacific Hydro. Recorded on 8 August 2018 at the Owen Dixon Commonwealth Law Courts Building in Melbourne.

Thy Do, a senior family support worker at Save The Children in Katherine (NT), gives evidence on the challenges faced by bank customers from remote communities, including one case in which it took four months to open a correct basic bank account with ANZ. Recorded on 5 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr gives her opening address on the topic of interactions between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and financial services entities during the fourth round of public hearings on issues affecting Australians who live in remote and regional communities at the Australian Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. Recorded on 2 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Kathy Marika, a 60-year-old Arnhem Land woman, gives evidence on how she was offered hundreds of dollars in retail vouchers to convince her to hand over contact details of family, friends, and colleagues, as part of an aggressive push by Let’s Insure (owned by Select AFSL) to sell funeral insurance that she didn’t want. Recorded on 4 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Deborah Smith, a grazier from Queensland, gives evidence on how National Australia Bank (NAB) gave her 6 months to repay A$800,000 in the midst of a protracted drought and low cattle prices. Recorded on 29 June 2018 at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Philip Bowden, a financial counsellor for Anglicare on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, gives evidence on superannuation issues for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people, including lack of identification making it difficult to access superannuation or deceased estates. Recorded on 5 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Tracey Walsh, a 53-year-old Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman from Victoria, gives evidence in relation to the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (ACBF), a provider of funeral insurance products, including how she believed it was an Aboriginal organisation, and how she paid over A$10,000 for a plan with a maximum benefit of A$8,000. Recorded on 3 July 2018 at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Mel Ruddy, a 68-year-old grazier from near Charleville in western Queensland, gives evidence on how an offer by a manager from Bankwest (a subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank) to take out a bigger loan on his two cattle properties – rather than sell one of them as planned – had resulted in financial disaster. Recorded on 28 June 2018 at the Brisbane Magistrates Court.