Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

( Thank you, Deputy Speaker, for the invitation to speak on this very important motion. It's not often I get to congratulate the government on things that they're doing, but this is one time that I congratulate them on what they're doing, because they have followed on from the good record of the previous government, which was, sadly, alluded to in a negative form. Two of the smartest people I know—I mean smart people, good businesspeople—were scammed. One cannot retrieve the money, and it's big money. The other, because of a mistake the bank made, was able to retrieve the money, which is a godsend. What I'm putting to you is this: no-one is immune from these scams. We are a nation that thinks people are doing the right thing by us when they get on the phone to us and they offer us help. We think, oh, we're probably out of order there.

I got a scam on tolls. I said to my wife: 'Bron, hang on. I've got a toll problem here. I can't afford to have a toll problem.' She said: 'It's a scam. You don't pay for the tolls; I do. They are having a go at you, but I pay for them. So it's got nothing to do with us; it's a scam.' It didn't look like a scam to me, because I had recently changed my credit card. Automatically I thought, 'Oh, I've changed my credit card; therefore, they want the new details for my credit card,' and I was about to give it to them because it was common sense. What I'm saying is that everybody is vulnerable to this.

I congratulate the government. We lost $3.1 billion to scammers because they're trading on the good people that Australians are.

(b) in the last 12 months to April 2023, almost half of all Australians have been scammed, deceived, or exposed to a fake text message;

It's inconceivable that it could be that amount of people.

… the Government's commitment to crack down on fake text message scams by:

(a) establishing a SMS sender ID registry in the 2023-24 budget; and

(b) committing to tackling illegal scams and keeping Australians safe; and

(3) further notes that the Government's commitment compliments:

(a) the rules registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority that saw telecommunications companies block more than 90 million scam texts between July and December 2022; and

(b) the Government's investment to establish a National Anti Scam Centre within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as an innovative, world-leading public-private sector partnership to disrupt and stop scammers in Australia.

It is unbelievable. This is a monumental attack on every Australian family and on every Australian person, and I commend the government on the process they've put in place to try to tackle this issue.

I know, Deputy Speaker Wilkie, that you'd love the same effort put into problem gambling. I know there are other issues that I would disagree with the government on. I won't go into the processes the former government went into—I'll get a chance later on this evening to do that. I'm appealing to the people that are watching this very good motion. The government can do so much, but there will not be a fire truck at the bottom of your driveway when it comes to scams. The government cannot have a fire truck at the bottom of every cliff. The bank can't save you—it's up to you to be diligent. I have this saying with my staff—and I've lived this through the whole of my 72 years—if in doubt, don't. If there's the slightest doubt, don't go there. Talk to your kids, talk to somebody else before you act on it. Do not give your details to anybody because the bank doesn't ring you and ask you for details—they've got them. Please, I'm begging you—and I've never begged anybody in this parliament before—please have regard for your own wellbeing.

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