Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the Coalition government has spent two years with its head in the sand avoiding giving the securities watchdog greater powers.
Labor has called for a royal commission into the banking sector, but the Turnbull government argues that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission has adequate powers to investigate financial scandals.
But Mr Bowen says on 41 occasions - in speeches, testimonies and submissions - over the past two years ASIC has called on the government for greater powers and having also suffered $120 million worth of budget cuts in 2014/15.
"For two years ASIC has been warning this government about the impact of budget cuts," Mr Bowen said on Tuesday.
ASIC has urged the revolving door of responsible ministers - Arthur Sinodinos, Mathias Cormann, Josh Frydenberg and now Kelly O'Dwyer - to give it greater powers, the ability to impose higher penalties, and to expand the protections available to corporate whistle blowers.
Mr Bowen said in October 2014 ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft declared that Australia was a "paradise" for white-collar criminals because of its soft punishments of corporate offences and called for the power to impose harsher jail terms and bigger penalties for white-collar crime.
"This government has spent two years with its head in the sand, as scandal after scandal has been revealed," Mr Bowen said.
