Tony Abbott believes the nation's banking regulators should be sacked in the wake of appalling stories out of the financial services royal commission.
The former prime minister has questioned what the regulators were doing while misconduct, as revealed in hearings, was allowed to happen.
"My fear is at the end of this royal commission we will have yet another level of regulation imposed on the banks when frankly what should happen is all the existing regulators should be sacked and people who are much more vigilant and much less complacent go in in their place," he told 2GB radio on Monday.
It comes as Malcolm Turnbull has admitted agreeing to a banking royal commission years ago would have been a better move politically.
But the prime minister insists he wanted to fix the laws and make changes rather than waiting for a report.
Mr Turnbull was responding to pressure to admit the government was wrong to wait, after Labor leader Bill Shorten wrote to him demanding an apology.
In the letter to Mr Turnbull, Mr Shorten says the first 14 days of the commission has heard shocking and shameful evidence of systemic wrongdoing and a culture of cover-up in the industry.
"Along with many Australians, I can't help but wonder how many customers were ripped off by this kind of misconduct in the two years it took the government to relent and agree to Labor's calls for a royal commission," he writes.
