Bill Shorten says it’s not enough that the hearings ‘have been in just three capital cities’

Labor is ramping up its campaign to have the banking royal commission extended, with a whirlwind series of roundtables planned around the country in places the commission has not visited, in an effort to give regional and rural customers a voice.

The opposition intensified its calls to extend the commission, which is due to hand down its final findings in February next year. An interim report released last week found a culture of “greed” had led to misconduct.

The government has maintained it will consider extending the inquiry at the request of the commissioner, Kenneth Hayne, who has so far not indicated a desire for a later deadline.

But Labor has called for more people to be given a platform to tell their story, with just 27 customers appearing in person at the commission, from the more than 10,000 customers who made written submissions.

Why Kenneth Hayne's banking royal commission report is a game-changer | Gareth Hutchens Read more

Hayne made it clear at the opening of the commission that each submission would be read, but the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said it was not enough.

“All of the hearings of the commission have been in just three capital cities – regional and rural customers have not had a sufficient chance to have their say in this process,” he said.

“Misconduct in the financial services sector is a national issue and Australians across the country deserve their chance to be heard.”

The roundtables will be led by Labor’s shadow financial services minister, Clare O’Neil.

Nationals senator John Williams, a longtime advocate for the royal commission within the Coalition party room, has also called for the inquiry to be extended.

Labor’s announcement comes as Scott Morrison and his ministry continue to face down Labor’s attacks highlighting that the government voted down the royal commission 26 times before Morrison, as then treasurer, announced it as a “regrettable but necessary action” in November last year.

On Sunday, Morrison told the ABC that he was “not going to lecture the royal commissioner about how they should do their job” and if Hayne wanted more time, the government would consider it, but he said Labor’s attempts to extend the inquiry were purely political in nature.

“The royal commissioner Hayne has made a number of comments about this,” he said.

“He is, I think, trying to very carefully balance ensuring that he gets to the issues – and I think he’s been doing a very good job at that – over 9,000 submissions and pieces of communication and all of that has been gone over by the royal commission in coming to their views to where they’ve expressed them today.

“But he’s also highlighted the need to deal with these issues to ensure that you can maintain stability and confidence in the economy and the banking system and so on.”

Labor has previously called for draft recommendations made by the commission to be released while the inquiry was still going, to better consult with the sector about how any reforms would feasibly be applied.

The royal commission cannot change laws or lay charges, with its powers limited to recommendations the government and relevant authorities can choose whether or not to accept.

Morrison said the government had already sought to act in a lot of areas the commission had examined.

“Kicking banking executives out of the banking industry when they’ve been doing the wrong thing is the regulation that I introduced and passed through the parliament,” he said.

“That’s good regulation and Apra needed to increase its attention on those sorts of duties. Now Asic, I think, has been found wanting and I’m glad we’ve made the change in Asic in its leadership. I’m glad that we’ve got James Shipton in there, I’m glad that we’ve increased its powers, its penalties, its resources and in particular its focus on prosecution, with Dan Crennan in there as, effectively, the chief prosecutor [of Asic].”

O’Neil plans on beginning the tour this week, with travel to be paid through the usual parliamentary travel expenses regime.

But she and Labor are limited by the tight timeframe the commission has set for additional submissions on its interim report, which closes at the end of the month, with O’Neil also required to attend the two-week October parliamentary sitting.

The royal commission will re-convene next month, with the focus shifting to policy questions arising from the first six rounds of hearings.