Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker, but I did happen to be in the chamber at the time. I will leave it there. Given the consequences of this legislative amendment, it would have been wise for this bill to have been carefully examined before a vote was held. Given the Labor government's desperation to secure more revenue, however, I can see why such scrutiny was bypassed.

There are many Australians who would be affected by this proposed legislative amendment. An article titled 'The quest for buried treasure', written by Lesley Parker and published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 November, shows that the average parcel of unclaimed funds in Western Australia is the highest in the country at $791. I do not know why that is, but our state—I happen to be a member from Western Australia—seems to be leading the charge in quite a few areas. While there are many inactive accounts which have only very small amounts of unclaimed money sitting in them, there are many examples where significant sums of money rest in an account without the knowledge of the account holder. In Western Australia, for example, there is an account with an unclaimed balance of almost a million dollars. The government has decided, through this proposed legislation, that this money should be redirected to federal coffers as a matter of urgency. Anyone in this place who takes even a cursory glance at this proposal will know that it warrants further scrutiny—especially given the number of Australian account holders who will be impacted by this bill.

Many thousands of my constituents in the Canning electorate would, because they are superannuants or self-managed superannuation fund holders, demand that parliament investigate the implications of a tier of government claiming money from Australians before we rush ahead with such a proposal. As I will come to later, this bill has unintended consequences—for example, where there is health insurance linked to a superannuation fund. This is a sadly accurate reflection of the disregard the Gillard government have for taxpayers' money. It is apparently not enough for them to recklessly waste the money which, as I said, is given to them through our taxation system and through the revenue the Commonwealth attracts; now they wish to rush through a process which will result in additional money being effectively placed in trust with the government—I emphasise the word 'trust'. It will be handed over to the government and held, but the government have a terrible track record with the responsibility of handling public funds. With the speed at which it is being rushed through the parliament, the coalition objects to this legislation.

This bill will have major implications for unclaimed bank accounts, life insurance policies, which I did not mention earlier, a range of superannuation accounts, home savers accounts and unclaimed company moneys. It seeks to allow the government to gain control of moneys in people's inactive accounts after three years. Currently it is seven years. So after three years they are coming for you. It also allows the government to gain control of workers' unclaimed superannuation money where an account has been inactive for 12 months—12 months, rather than five years. What if you have been up north on a contract and you just have not got around to tending to your self-managed superannuation fund, for example?

An opposition member: Goneski.

You return to Perth and look to get your account going again because you have come back with a pocketful of money. Sorry, it is not there. The federal government has taken your account because you have been out of circulation for 12 months. It increases the limit of lost super funds it can raid from just $200 to $2,000—in other words, a multiple of 10.

Inactive First Home Saver Accounts and life insurance funds are also under attack by the Gillard government. What about parents who establish a First Home Saver Account for their children? Have they thought of this unintended consequence? Parents with a bit of money who want to do the right thing by their young child so that they can get into the home mortgage market later in life may put it into a home saver account. Unfortunately, as things go on and bills get bigger, they may not put any money into this home saver account for their child and it may go inactive for several years because of financial circumstances. Goodness me, the government has come and got it!

What about people who travel overseas for a period of time? Dare I say, I have some missionaries in my electorate who go to Africa and other parts of the world offering their time almost free of charge. They do this for two or three years. They will come back to Australia and find that, because their account was inactive and they were working almost in a charitable fashion, not earning, they have been hit. What about soldiers sent overseas? I am not talking about soldiers in Afghanistan or on peacekeeping missions but those who go away to other areas where they might sign on for a longer period of time. When they come back after 12 months: goneski—not the Gonski that most people know but the goneski that will happen to their account.

So we can see that this bill will have major ramifications for many Australians. It is incumbent upon this parliament to rigorously explore the implications of the bill rather than rush it through both houses, as is the apparent intention of the government today. We often hear about the new era of transparency, with this 'rainbow coalition' that was cobbled together in 2010. Dare I refer to the time I sat in this chamber three weeks ago, when the member for Lyne was occupying the chair? He wanted to leave the chair because he was not happy with the bill and wanted to contribute to debate. We helped facilitate it. The Greens member for Melbourne said the Greens were not happy with this bill because it had suddenly been thrust upon them as well and they had not seen the detail. Obviously, in recent times they always protest and then eventually roll over and have their tummies scratched by this government and go along with it.

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