Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to thank those members who have contributed to this debate. The Banking Laws Amendment (Unclaimed Money) Bill 2015 delivers on the government's promise to reform the unclaimed moneys provisions and helps to deliver on the government's promise to support Australian business by reducing red tape by $1 billion each and every year.

When the previous Labor government, in a desperate money grab, reduced the required period of inactivity before funds must be transferred to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to three years, the value of unclaimed money transferred to ASIC in a single year grew more than eightfold. Unfortunately, however, much of this money was not forgotten, and the previous government's changes left many Australian families in a position of financial distress. This was an unacceptable outcome. In order to again ensure that Australians' active bank accounts and life insurance policies remain in their control, this bill returns the required period of inactivity before they can be transferred to ASIC to seven years. It also makes changes to the notification requirements to ensure that, even after seven years of inactivity, if an account holder lets their financial institution know that they are aware of those funds in any way, prior to their transfer to ASIC, such as by checking the balance online, they will remain in control of the account holder.

In recognition of how Australians actually use different financial products, this bill will also exempt children's accounts and foreign currency accounts from the unclaimed moneys provisions entirely. For example, many Australians set money aside for their children's future and trust that this money will continue to grow in value and be available for their children when they are ready. In recognition of this fact, as a result of this bill, funds from children's accounts will not be transferred to ASIC. Foreign currency accounts, meanwhile, are primarily used by sophisticated consumers to settle complex transactions. However, transferring foreign currency accounts to ASIC not only disrupts these processes; it also exposes the account holder to a loss, as their funds must be converted to Australian dollars at the prevailing exchange rate before they can be transferred to ASIC. In line with the government's commitment to protect Australian businesses from excessive red tape, these types of products will also be exempt from transfer to ASIC.

Finally, this bill will introduce new limits on access to the personal details of those Australians with unclaimed accounts. To protect account holders from exploitation by some unscrupulous money-finding companies, or even identity theft, this bill will remove the requirement for ASIC to publish an unclaimed moneys gazette and introduces secrecy provisions to restrict freedom-of-information requests generally to an individual's own details. I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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