the state governments, with the help of the federal government, should encourage and give more support to the credit unions and building societies.
Yes, we need to bring back some regulatory regime for our banks. Keating's relaxation of the control over foreign banks operating in Australia was to bring in some needed competition but it didn't work because those foreign banks which set up operations in Australia just did not have the retail branch network to compete with our local banks. But internet usage has since have a much wider applications, perhaps there could be some new incentives that can be offered to foreign banks to try again to establish a competitive foothold in this country.
