Banking Royal Commission: Kenneth Hayne's pop-up commission no crowd-pleaser

Australian Financial Review Feb 12 2018 9:36 PM

Patrick Durkin

Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne was always going to run a tight ship.

But a few telltale signs from Monday's scripted hearing, revealed just how far removed from a media and political circus Hayne wants things to run.

When aggrieved NAB customer Dennis Sgargetta provided the only unscripted moment by jumping up at the conclusion of events to quote something called the ninth divine law, Hayne maintained his deadpan, matter of fact manner, simply repeating that the hearing was now adjourned.

Outside the Fair Work Commission in Melbourne, a handful of onlookers mingling outside asked why the hearing had finished so quickly, "So they will get into things full-steam tomorrow?" they asked expectantly.

No, the commission will be working "behind the scenes" for the next month, before the first public hearings pop-up at a place and time yet to be revealed.

Some onlookers wondered aloud whether Hayne's carefully laid plans to keep things tightly scripted could still be disrupted by the onslaught of noise from aggrieved bank customers and intensity of political and media appetite.

If Hayne was in any doubt about the overwhelming interest in his inquiry, he only had to observe the three spill-over courts opened on the sixth floor of the Fair Work Commission to accommodate the swarm of lawyers, journalists and unhappy bank customers who gathered to watch the highly-anticipated event.

Less than 50 early birds, including a handful of journalists made it into the actual hearing room, while leading lawyers such as Melbourne's Mr Fix-It, Leon Zwier was among those directed into an overflow court while the media were relegated to a third broadcast room. The clear sense was that Hayne and his team are running the show and the media would not be given any special treatment.

Despite the air of expectation, the largely procedural affair was over in an hour with a large portion taken up with an associate reading six pages of the federal government's letters patent, setting out the terms of inquiry and stunting the crowd's enthusiasm from the get-go.

Among the precious snippets of news, Hayne poured cold water on the idea of any fresh revelations against the banks. Instead the commission will focus on those cases where the banks have already admitted misconduct to consider what went wrong. "More is to be gained on why this happened", Hayne explained.

Senior Counsel Rowena Orr, QC a former prosecutor at the DPP and associate to former High Court judge Michael McHugh who now specialises in commercial, competition law and administrative law, was equally scripted and unemotional. She made it clear that counsel's work will focus on preparing a series of papers, first on home loans, car loans and credit cards and then on financial advice while they continue to argue with the banks over what documents they provide.

It is already clear that Hayne's commission will be far from a crowd-pleaser. It remains to be seen how much aggrieved customers, the media and others will get a look in and whether Hayne can appease the public's anger at the banks.