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ABC News
25 minutes ago
- ABC News
Banks to refund $60m of 'excessive' fees but CommBank withholds $270m
Thousands of Australians wrongly slugged more than $60 million in excessive bank fees could soon get a refund, but the national corporate regulator says Commonwealth Bank customers may not receive a cent. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) today revealed it had put banks on notice for incorrectly charging low-income earners who receive Centrelink payments, such as JobSeeker and Age and Disability Support payments. While the watchdog said a review of 21 banks found 800,000 customers were eligible for refunds, millions of Australians could be impacted. It comes one year after the corporate watchdog found four of the country's banks, which had a significant number of First Nations customers, had caused "financial distress". Susan Potts lives in Broome, 2,200 kilometres north of Perth, and was recently refunded ten years of fees charged by the Commonwealth Bank. She said she was only made aware of the charges after Kimberley financial counsellor Alan Gray spotted the fees in her bank statements while investigating an unrelated scam. "They were taking [fees] all these years and we're only on low income, all on disability, so it's a bit unfair," Ms Potts said. "It's just nice this is coming to the surface. We've been taken advantage of for the last 10 years." Mr Gray applied for Ms Potts' refund in May but said he was unsuccessful until the bank "did a U-turn". "I am absolutely furious with Commonwealth Bank," he said. "This is the richest bank in Australia profiting from the poorest people on the continent. ASIC's first report revealed the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Bendigo Bank and the ANZ knowingly kept more than 150,000 Indigenous customers in high-fee accounts despite qualifying for an account with minimal charges. That report led to a promise of $33 million in refunds. The latest ASIC report stated ANZ would commit to return $47.9 million, Westpac promised more than $9.9 million, while eligible Bendigo Bank customers will receive a share of $155,000. But the corporate regulator said Commonwealth Bank — including subsidiary Bankwest — would not refund the $270 million it had charged low-income customers between July 2019 and October 2024. Instead the bank said it would move 1.5 million eligible customers to a yet-to-be-approved 'new nominal fee account'. "That will address problems going forward for those people, but what it doesn't do is set things right for the fees they've been charged in the past," ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said. It is a similar story in other regional and remote communities. In Djarindjin, almost 200 kilometres away from the nearest bank branch, residents said there was confusion over who was entitled for a refund. Nyikina woman and Commonwealth Bank customer Audrey Shadforth said she only found out about the initial refunds through word-of-mouth. "I remember one of my family members got some money back," she said. When the ABC met with Ms Shadforth she had just received a letter confirming she would be repaid $400. Djarindjin mother and Bardi-Jawi woman Jenaya Cox said she did not know if she was eligible. "It would help me out with the bills I need to pay," she said. "I have a daughter now so it's a bit hard." Djarindjin financial counsellor Veronica Johnson said many of her remote clients had already been subject to financial abuse in the past. "I believe some people got paid, other people didn't. "It's just a little bit of a shemozzle in relation to people being given a fair go." ASIC's report found some banks had made progress to "better understand First Nations customers". Some institutions increased the number of interpreters on designated customer care helplines, while others had offered cultural awareness training to staff. But both financial counsellors agreed banks should do more. "It doesn't matter how many times a financial counsellor tells the big banks there is no street delivery of mail in the outback — they never, ever get the message," Mr Gray said. "I feel a lot more could be done to communicate in a fair and equitable way so people can understand what is going on," Ms Johnson said. The ABC contacted ANZ, Westpac, Bendigo Bank and the Commonwealth Bank for comment. Westpac and Bendigo Bank did not provide an official comment. An ANZ spokesperson said it had made "a number of changes" since ASIC's first report and "taken a deliberate decision to expand its remediation payments, leading to a larger cohort of customers refunded in fees and interest". The spokesperson said an "expansive approach to remediation is the right thing to do." A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson said it had already made repayments of $25 million in relation to ASIC's first report on "a goodwill basis". However, in relation to the $270 million ASIC's latest report cites should be refunded, the spokesperson said the fees "were disclosed to customers and were charged in accordance with their terms and conditions". "Where customers have incurred unusually high fees we consider goodwill adjustments where appropriate while continuing to provide access to lower-fee options," the spokesperson said.
ABC News
25 minutes ago
- ABC News
Trump asks for swift deposition of Murdoch in Epstein defamation case
Donald Trump has asked a US court to order a swift deposition for billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the US president's defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over an article about Mr Trump's links to Jeffrey Epstein. The case relates to a July 17 article in the Journal asserting Mr Trump's name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for the late financier and sex offender. The day after it appeared, the Republican president sued the Journal, its owners, including Mr Murdoch, and the reporters who wrote the story, which said Mr Trump's letter included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared. Mr Trump's lawsuit called the alleged birthday greeting "fake" and said the Journal published its article to harm the president's reputation. In a court filing on Monday, Mr Trump's lawyers said the president told Mr Murdoch before the article was published that the letter referenced in the story was fake, and Mr Murdoch told Mr Trump he would "take care of it." "Murdoch's direct involvement further underscores defendants' actual malice," Mr Trump's lawyers wrote, referring to the legal standard the president must clear to prevail in his lawsuit. His lawyers asked US District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami to compel Mr Murdoch, 94, to testify within 15 days. Judge Gayles ordered Mr Murdoch to respond by August 4. Dow Jones, the Journal's publisher, declined to comment. Dow Jones has said the Journal stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the lawsuit. Neither Dow Jones owner News Corp nor a spokesperson for Mr Murdoch immediately responded to requests for comment. The article was published amid growing criticism from Mr Trump's conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over the administration's decision not to release additional documents from the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Mr Trump and Epstein were friends for years before what Mr Trump has called a falling out. Legal experts say Mr Trump faces a high bar in proving the Journal defamed him, let alone collecting the $US10 billion ($15.3 billion) in damages he is seeking. The "actual malice" standard means Mr Trump must prove not only that the article was false, but also that the Journal knew or should have known it was false. Reuters
ABC News
25 minutes ago
- ABC News
Roadblocks remain for Aussie EV drivers despite sales rising as BYD battles Tesla for dominance
Australia's electric vehicle market is booming, but scratch the surface and there are still big roadblocks ahead. At a recent EV show in Melbourne, shiny new models and bold branding painted a picture of progress — yet behind the scenes, questions remained about affordability, infrastructure, and looming tax changes that could slow the momentum. "Next year, 70 new models hit the market and new brands come to the market as well," Ray Evans, the show's organiser, said. "So the consumers are the winners." Many of the new entrants are coming from one place: China. Chinese manufacturers like BYD and MG are carving out market share by undercutting legacy brands. The lowest-cost EV on the market sells for $30,000 before on-road costs. "We're starting to see the Chinese electric makers catch up, and that's another big factor because they're pitching pretty interesting electric vehicles at a lower price," Giles Parkinson, founder of The Driven, said. Tesla is still the biggest-selling EV maker in Australia at 4,589 cars sold in June. But once plug-in hybrids are included, BYD outsold Tesla in the first half of 2025. Despite the hype, electric vehicles still account for only a fraction of new car sales. In June, a record of just over 10 per cent (13,169 vehicles) of new car sales were electric, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council, compiled by The Driven. If you include plug-in hybrids, electrified cars made up 15.2 per cent. While lower sale prices and lower running costs are enticing, there are some concerns about long-term reliability, resale value and local servicing support. Some potential buyers remain cautious, especially about charging their cars on longer trips. "We are still exploring, because we are very used to the petrol, you know," said one woman at the show. Others say they are ready — if the price and size are right. "We've driven a few, it's quite smooth, so I am happy to go with an EV," said another. "I don't ever have to go to a petrol station anymore. It's just about finding the right size of car." Australia's new vehicle emissions standards (NVES) introduced this year are expected to boost EV sales. This month, penalties kicked in for car makers who did not meet the new fleet-wide emissions targets. Basically, the NVES sets an emissions ceiling on the total car sales of each automaker, with heavy penalties for those who exceed it. There is a lot of debate about whether the standards are tough enough to meet previous forecasts about the take-up for EVs. To dodge fines, car makers will need to balance the sales of high-emission models like utes and 4WDs by selling hybrids and EVs to bring down their overall fleet emissions. Industry observers say those rules act as a powerful incentive for car makers that continue to sell petrol vehicles to shift to EVs and hybrids, even at a loss. "So you're starting to see them really push out some of their offerings at a much lower price just to sort of get that sales number up," Mr Parkinson said. "Because if they don't meet those sales numbers or those emissions standards — and it's an average, it's not applied to each individual car, it's an average over a year — they don't meet that average, then they have to pay another car maker credits. "And they'd rather keep the money themselves, even if they have to take a bit of a loss on their own cars." XPeng is another Chinese brand that sees Australia as an attractive market for EV car makers. "Australia doesn't have a domestic car industry that we need to protect, so a lot of those potential tariffs or barriers or boundaries for entry have gone," Jason Clarke, XPeng distributor and CEO of True EV, said. However, despite government rhetoric around the shift to EVs, Australia still lacks a national charging strategy — and consumers are bearing the brunt. "I travel to Canberra a bit from Sydney … I do find I have to plan for charging," said Mr Clarke. "I find the availability of charging publicly is OK, but the speed and the maintenance I am finding now is very problematic. "With fast charging, you can get a full charge in 20 minutes, but that's depending on the supply, and if you're getting 20 kilowatts being fed in or 150 is very, very different." There are other major roadblocks on the horizon for the EV market. Despite the high court ruling that Victoria's version of the EV road user tax was unconstitutional, such a tax in place of the fuel excise tax is considered inevitable by many, including the federal treasurer. "[A] road user tax placed on top of the already existing taxes really doesn't make sense," Scott Maynard, managing director of Polestar Australia, said. Also under threat is the fringe benefits tax exemption on EVs — a policy widely credited with driving recent growth. Mr Maynard is instead calling for the federal government to scrap tax breaks for utes. "That's an exemption that has been afforded to those vehicles since 1986 and costs taxpayers millions of dollars," he said. "It makes far more sense to put those subsidies towards vehicles that will create cleaner air, and also help our health and also put vehicles in the hands of customers that are cheaper to get into and cheaper to own." Reduced US government subsidies have already knocked Tesla's sales. But back at the Melbourne EV show, there was no official Tesla stall to guard against the growing threat to its market dominance in Australia. Instead, a diehard group of Tesla owners was happy to represent the company for free. "We are just a group of people who love our cars," Ross Hetherington, a long-time Tesla driver, said. Mr Hetherington was quick to defend the brand's controversial CEO, too. "I drive the car for the car. I mean, Elon Musk owns 12.5 per cent of Tesla. He's not… he… Tesla employs 150,000 people globally. He's one man." Asked if he would ever return to a petrol vehicle? "There is no way," he said.
