Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2022, and it's always a pleasure to follow the member for Bradfield. I want to pick up on a point he made, when he observed that the closure of nine years of the Morrison-Turnbull-Abbott government left Australia with the lowest productivity growth in 60 years. At the end of the day, as Professor Paul Krugman, a famous US economist, said:

Productivity isn't everything, but, in the long run, it's almost everything.

And nothing sums up the legacy that the coalition government have left the country than the worst productivity growth in 60 years. I do agree with him that the Consumer Data Right has the capacity to provide productivity enhancements, particularly in the delivery of services. But, I've got to say, it takes a lot of gall from the member for Bradfield, who as minister was responsible for flogging off a $3 million block of land for nearly $30 million. With somebody like that in charge of money, you'd be very worried indeed.

These were the mob—and the idea that they're lecturing us on a digital strategy and the infrastructure necessary for a modern economy is the stuff befitting of comedy. The man who was single-handedly responsible for campaigning against the establishment and building of an NBN when they were last in opposition promised us that we were going to have an NBN that would be faster, cheaper and quicker. Yet they delivered an NBN that was slower and more expensive—not just by a little bit. It cost us twice as much as it otherwise would have cost us and has taken much longer to complete.

The modern business registry, a critical piece of IT infrastructure, they promised would be delivered for somewhere in the vicinity of $460 million. We now know that project will cost somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5 billion. So their track record on delivering IT projects is woeful. The digital IT project was handed, under the previous government, from minister to minister to minister, and each and every one of them has failed to deliver on the promise. They talk about cybersecurity and scams. Scams are costing Australians $2 billion a year. On their watch, there was no strategy to deal with it.

They advised us that they are going to refer this bill—and, indeed, the future of the project—to a Senate committee so it can be scrutinised. We welcome that. I think that would be good. As they're scrutinising the project they're sending to the Senate committee to investigate, I might ask them questions about the funding that was allocated under the previous government for this project. We are told by them it was critical to the productivity-driving future of our economy. If it was so important, why did they cease funding for it in June this year? It's a project, we've just heard from the member for Bradfield, that was central to their economic reform yet they left it unfunded. So I think we can take with a pinch of salt the claims that have been made by the member for Bradfield.

There are some things we do agree on though: the Consumer Data Right has the capacity to significantly enhance productivity, particularly in the services sector. Once this bill is passed into law, it will set the basis for expanding, to combine the power of data sharing with the ability for consumers to safely and securely instruct third parties to initiate actions on their behalf. In future, this could include things such as opening and closing accounts, making payments and applying for services. The reform will give individuals and businesses more control over their data and empower them to make informed choices as well as many other things. This will reduce the time pressures, cost and complexity experienced by individuals and small businesses when carrying out everyday tasks.

These changes to the CDR are underpinned by strong privacy and information security provisions that are at the core of the CDR, and security and other checks outside the CDR will continue to apply. It's important expansion, empowering consumers to authorise, manage and securely make informed choices in a digital economy. I thank members for their contributions to the debate and I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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