Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hear my colleague saying that I'm incandescent with rage! It is one of my favourite sayings when I really am incandescent with rage! To anyone who has ever—no, I won't say that word in the parliament, so I'll say something else! It's to anyone who has ever been treated poorly by a power bigger than they are—by a bank, by a government department or by a big company—and think that there is just no way they'll ever get justice. Do you know what? Sometimes class actions get justice. We see that now with the member for Maribyrnong helping with a wonderful class action about robodebt. We know that tens of thousands of people felt that they had been wronged, and now thousands of people have signed up for that class action.

This government doesn't like class actions because class actions represent the little people getting their foot in the door of the big end of town. Class actions represent the little person being given a chance to see their rights in the spotlight. And maybe they do get a little bit of recompense and maybe the litigation funders do get to make some money from the hours and work that they've put in. But, at the end of the day, justice prevails. When people get their day in court, they feel as though they have been heard and taken notice of. This government only takes notice of what it wants to take notice of, and I say: let them take notice of what we're doing now. (Time expired)

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