With the current debate about bank profits, federal Budget revenue hits, mining taxes, the surging Australian dollar and Michael Yabsley’s attacks on the federal Liberal Party’s finances, it is worth stepping back and considering these figures:

The five biggest Australian-based listed companies by market capitalisation are:

  1. BHP Billiton: $US256 billion
  2. Commonwealth Bank: $US76.7 billion
  3. Westpac: $US70.7 billion
  4. ANZ: $US62.5 billion
  5. National Australia Bank: $US56.1 billion

The 10  biggest US-based listed companies by market capitalisation are:

  1. Exxon-Mobil: $US353 billion
  2. Apple: $US290.91 billion
  3. Microsoft: $US229.7 billion
  4. Google: $US200 billion
  5. GE: $178.1 billion
  6. AT&T: $US175.5 billion
  7. Chevron: $US170.9 billion
  8. JP Morgan: $US160.7 billion
  9. Wells Fargo: $US153.4 billion
  10. Citi: $US130.4 billion

There are several remarkable aspects to these statistics. The first is that the surging Australian dollar and soaring share price after the Canadian government blocked its Potash takeover has seen BHP-Billiton emerge as the third most valuable company in the world. Only Exxon-Mobil and Apple are worth more. All other global challengers to BHP, such as Shell, BP, Vale, Petrobras, Gazprom and the various Chinese listings, are now less valuable than the Big Australian.

With the federal Government warning of revenue shortfalls on its new mineral resources rent tax courtesy of the surging dollar, it is clear BHP-Billiton could comfortably afford to pay billions more in tax if the MRRT variables were tweaked.

Indeed, BHP-Billiton is so rich it is now within $US10 billion of having a market capitalisation that exceeds the combined value of the Big Four Australian banks ($US266 billion) for the first time.

That’s incredible in itself because the local banking cartel is so lucrative that Australia is the only country in the world where banks represent four of the five most valuable listed companies, courtesy of their net profits exceeding $20 billion a year. By way of contrast, no bank ranks in the top seven in the US. Excluding their New Zealand operations, the vast majority of the Big Four profits come from imposing the world’s most expensive banking system on  Australian consumers.

Anyone who has owned Australian bank stocks since they bottomed in 1992 has made an absolute fortune.

And that includes the Victorian division of the Liberal Party and the Queensland division of the Labor Party, as Crikey last explained in January 2009.

It has been surprising to have a feral debate about bank profits without anyone asking our political duopoly about their own profits from the banking cartel.

What would Joe Hockey say if he was asked about these holdings by the Cormack Foundation, the investment arm of the Victorian Liberals:

  • Commonwealth Bank: 285,000 shares worth $14 million
  • National Australia Bank: 319,000 shares worth $8.3 million
  • ANZ: 125,000 shares worth $3 million
  • Westpac: 100,000 shares worth $2.34 million

That’s a whopping $27.64 million worth of shares in the Big Four banks in an overall portfolio worth $59.7 million, assuming there have been no sales since the dividends were last disclosed for the 2008-09 financial year.

The size of this portfolio makes a mockery of outgoing federal Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley, who is alleging through Niki Savva in The Australian today that the federal division is almost broke. Truth be known, the Liberals are a federation of state divisions and its consolidated balance sheet remains very strong, not “close to insolvency” as Yabsley is claiming.

It’s probably inappropriate to comment on Victorian Liberal Party finances without disclosing I’m standing as an independent for the Northern Metropolitan upper house region at the Victorian election on November 27.

As part of that, we really should see all parties disclose their financial returns for 2009-10 before polling day.

Tony Abbott told AM this morning that “the last thing a political party should do is hoard money during an election campaign”.

If the Victorian Liberals agree, they’ve no doubt been selling bank shares in recent times to create a cash war chest for the next three weeks.

Journalists should be pressing the Victorian Liberals to reveal all about their own finances before polling day, just as the ALP should be revealing which developers have been pouring cash into its coffers.