About time

National is finally putting the government banking contract out to tender. About time. The contract was awarded to Westpac over 20 years ago without a competitive tender, and there's no evidence that we're getting value for money. Meanwhile, the company spends thousands on bribing Ministers with extraordinary corporate hospitality, lending an appearance of corruption (which of course John Key is quite comfortable with).

One thing which is unclear yet is whether the government's new banker will be required to be a good corporate citizen and pay its taxes. Westpac stole almost a billion dollars from us over the years, and the other Aussie banks are the same. We should not be giving large government contracts to tax cheats. If they want our business, the least they can do is obey the law and pay their fair share.