In government, Labor's treasurer Wayne Swan repeatedly rejected calls for an inquiry into Australia's financial system, arguing it didn't need to be fixed.
The Murray inquiry into the financial system and the Turnbull government's response shows how wrong he was.
Banks not only need tougher rules about how much capital they hold to back loans, they also need controls on the leverage behind those loans, a recommendation endorsed by the Turnbull government.
Australian workers were being pushed into default superannuation funds that mightn't always have provided the best value for money.
David Murray has recommended, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has endorsed, the need for a competitive tender to determine default funds, removing the power from employers who mightn't always do the best thing by their workers.
And it will make sure all workers have a choice of super funds, something not yet available more than two decades after super became compulsory.
The Abbott government had already endorsed a Labor proposal and Murray recommendation that banks not be required to pay a "deposit tax" in order to receive support in emergencies. Instead, emergency finance will be funded by a levy on all banks after the event should it ever be needed.
Labor and its predecessors never got around to defining the purpose of super. Is it for wealth accumulation, is it for retirement incomes, is it a device for income smoothing?
Murray has recommended that the government work out the purpose and enshrine it in legislation, something the Turnbull government is going to ask the Productivity Commission to help it do.
It'll go further than Labor had in creating an enhanced register of financial advisors that will enable would-be customers to see whether they have been banned or cautioned for breaching the code of ethics.
And it will legislate to ban excessive credit card surcharges, of the kind imposed by Qantas and Cabcharge.
What it won't do its only wholesale rejection of a Murray recommendation is remove the loophole that allows self-managed super funds to borrow. Adopting that very reasonable recommendation would have annoyed a lot of wealthy retirees and would-be retirees, but it says it'll keep borrowing by super funds under review.
Murray, a former head of the Commonwealth Bank and Future Fund, delivered a good report. Turnbull has (almost) adopted it in full.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/malcolm-turnbull-looks-to-fix-mistake... 1) The banks are already trying the scare tactic of increased charges, hopefully their bluff will be called or Australians will finally find some balls & walk for a better deal at Building societies/credit unions
2) When I posted Peter Martian articles critical of Hockey's sad joke of Treasury management he was a hack with labor leanings according to Mrs L.W. Mariacostel, I await it's(is that the correct gender neutral term?) highly critical assessment of the above.