Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I will just be brief on the Identity Verification Services Bill 2023. I'll be speaking in my role as shadow minister for multicultural affairs and also for elderly people when it comes to the modern age of dealing with banks and insurance companies, as we've heard about before. I'd just go back to my days in the Victorian police force, where it was all about bouncing cheques in other people's names. It then moved to the next level, which was phone calls made to people's homes. I was on an inquiry a number of years ago, the serious and organised crime inquiry, and we went to many countries around the world. I think it was in Sweden where the big scam at the time was ringing up elderly people and getting their banking details over the phone. So I say to people, whether it be from the multicultural community or seniors, if anyone rings you up on the phone or you get an SMS don't assume it's the bank. Banks and insurance companies don't tell you to log on via an SMS and insert your banking details. It doesn't happen. Always go into your local bank or insurance company and speak to them, or hang up and ring their listed phone numbers.

I've heard of some very clever and outrageous scams where the person has actually gone to make the phone call, they have actually rung the phone number of the legitimate company, but somehow those involved in the organised crime had arranged it to be diverted to them. That makes life even tougher. But the clear message is: take precautions and always double-check.

I do acknowledge the government is bringing this bill forward for all the right reasons, and I thank the communications minister for that. The only concern on our side is that has been the process and doubling down in looking at that to make sure all those changes which could be made to protect Australians are made.

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