Receivers: are “inhuman”?

In Receivers: are “crooks”? I commented on some of the most quotable evidence given to the first two hearings of the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Lending to Primary Production Customers.

The transcripts from hearings three and four are also now available here.

Notably, in the fourth hearing one senator asked whether “receivers have professional standards bodies?”  Neither the bank to whom the question was directed, nor the other members of the committee, were able to identify ARITA’s role or the fact that ARITA had already lodged a submission to the inquiry.

Towards the end of the hearing the Chair referred to having seen conduct by receivers that ranged from “fraudulent—through to things that we could possibly describe as inhuman.”

If the committee does continue to pursue its present line of investigation it would not be a surprise to see a further Senate Inquiry into the conduct and regulation of receivers.