Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am sorry to correct my colleague but, as I understand it, the PJC has not actually even met yet. They have agreed to have it referred, that is right, and that is the point I was making. There has been agreement on both sides of the House to have this referred to the parliamentary joint committee. However, the parliamentary joint committee has not even met yet to consider this legislation. We do not know what its reporting date is and we do not know anything about what its considerations of this legislation are. We know nothing about it. The PJC, which is set up by this parliament to consult at an official level with all the stakeholders, has not even met to consider when they are going to meet stakeholders. For crying out loud! And we, as the House of Representatives, are now being told to vote on this legislation as it stands. Fair dinkum!

I have seen some things rushed through this place before, and we were guilty of it in government too. But I have not seen routine legislation rammed through in this way. And it is being followed up with the Appropriation (Implementation of the Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers) Bill (No. 2), with one speaker, and the Fair Work Amendment Bill, with one speaker. It is the same with all of this legislation.

Twenty-four hours ago, we started working through the legal processes. We have our own internal processes, as the Labor Party does, and as I am sure the Independents do, to go through consultations with key stakeholders. And yet we get this—the impact on section 69 of the Banking Act to provide new arrangements for unclaimed moneys. This will reduce the period before an amount payable by an ADI—that is a bank account—is treated as unclaimed money from seven years to three years. We do not know the circumstances of individuals—if they are transferred overseas. What about soldiers who are sent overseas, who have their own bank accounts and cannot be traced? We do not know what their circumstances are.

But it is a big step to go from seven years to three years in relation to an unclaimed bank account. There are plenty of Australians who might leave the country for a certain period of time and their bank might not be able to find out where they are immediately, or their mail is sent to an address and gets returned to sender. For crying out loud, in my own home I am still getting mail addressed to two previous owners from at least 15 years ago. As much as I have fond regard for Australia's banks, they do send stuff to the wrong address sometimes. We have all seen that. Despite our best endeavours to get them to send it to the right address—

See this speech in context