Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

That's right; they voted against it 26 times. Now, two years after this legislation was promised, we're finally getting around to debating it.

The other issue that arises with this—and ASIC flagged this when it gave evidence to parliamentary committees, and it's related to this whole suite of legislation—is that we're not ready to go yet. We can't just update the existing registers. It's not just about the legislative framework. Literally the computer databases that the existing registers are running on are about to fall over. We can't just update them. ASIC needs to upgrade all of its systems to accommodate this very important change in our corporate regulatory framework.

I know that Assistant Minister Buchholz, who is at the table, is aware of this because we have sat on committees that have looked into these things. It's really important in this context that the government makes sure that ASIC is properly funded to quickly deliver, on the most recent technology, the upgrades that it needs to its registers and databases to deal with the significant changes around the director identification number. It's all very good and well us standing in this place supporting such important legislation, but, even if we get the frameworks right, if the regulator is not empowered and empowered financially to get on with the job then we will still be confronted with this same issue for many years to come. For two years we have been waiting for this legislation to be brought on by this government, but it has obfuscated. I think about the number of employees who have walked into my office—and I daresay they have walked into the offices of nearly every member of parliament here—to complain about their being the victim of phoenixing activity, with lost wages and lost superannuation.

Small businesses in our electorates have been left with unpaid bills. They are facing cash flow shortages. They acquired materials to do whatever work they were doing for that business. They supplied that business with goods and services and they have been left high and dry. That's why there's that $5 billion cost to our economy every year. We have been waiting two years for this legislation to come forward. That's $10.2 billion that has been lost to the Australian economy through illegal phoenixing. That could have been significantly reduced by having the director identification numbers introduced.

ASIC has been crying out for it for years. Parliamentary committees, in parliament upon parliament, have been saying we need to get on and deal with this. Industry groups, those involved in regulation and those involved in law enforcement in the corporate space, such as me, have been saying that this is such an obvious problem that needs to be solved. It's very good that the government is now finally getting on with the job of resolving it. We're very happy to see the government pick up this policy, which was ours. We wholeheartedly support this happening. We urge the government to make sure that they properly fund ASIC to deliver on this commitment and that it is able to do it soon.

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