Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024 addresses an issue that's really important to people in my electorate in Darwin and Palmerston, to Territorians generally and, of course, to people around Australia. All members in this place, whether they're in the government with us, in the opposition or on the crossbench, know that Australians are being ripped off by scams every day. I've helped a number of my constituents when they've been scammed. Often, of course, it's too late and they've already suffered great losses, but at least we've been able to show them the new resources, and through legislation like this we are strengthening the ability to protect Australians.

Last year, we launched the Fighting Scams awareness campaign to equip Australians with tools to protect themselves against scammers. There are three simple and memorable steps to empower Australians to identify sophisticated scam tactics. They are to stop and think before you share personal information; to check that you know who you're dealing with, whether it be online or on the phone; and to protect against scams by reporting them to scamwatch.gov.au. In some cases, some of the constituents I've assisted have been able to get some funds back, and that's been appreciated and satisfying. But, as previous speakers have mentioned, that is happening a small percentage of the time. We need to do everything we can to make sure that this education campaign is as widely understood in the Australian population as possible—stop, check and protect—because overwhelmingly it is prevention, rather than work after the fact, that is going to lead to less criminal behaviour that results in Australians being deprived of their hard-earned cash.

After all, our government is about exactly that. We are making sure that Australians both earn more and keep more of what they earn. What scammers try to do is illegally and criminally take money from Australians by deceptive means. So remember to stop and think before sharing your personal information; check that you absolutely know who you are dealing with; and then protect against scams by reporting them to Scamwatch. In doing so, you're preventing other Australians from being scammed as well.

In addition to this awareness campaign, we've got a world-leading Scams Prevention Framework that will help keep Australians' money safe from scammers. This framework is going to ensure that banks, telcos and social media companies are doing their bit to protect Australians from scammers. We are making Australia the toughest target for scammers to operate in. It's all part of our Albanese Labor government ensuring that Australians keep more of what they earn.

As I said, I've spoken to many constituents, and it is absolutely heartbreaking to see Territorians in my electorate lose their hard-earned money because of these scammers. And often these scams take everything. I've seen them take houses—there have been houses mortgaged in order to keep feeding illegal and criminal scamming. It's very sad that it's often our senior citizens that are targeted. They are from a different generation that is more trusting, and unfortunately that goodness of theirs is preyed upon by scammers who are, frankly, evil in their actions to deprive any Australian, but particularly senior Australians, of their hard-earned money.

Often, when people come to my office with their story, they're even still a little bit unsure about whether they've been scammed. I think they know in their heart of hearts that there's something wrong, but they come, unsure of what to do. We have the Little Black Book of Scams that we actually pre-emptively send out to Territorians, but please know that you can get that support through the Little Black Book of Scams from my office and get assistance at any time if you believe that you're being scammed or that someone in your family or a friend is being scammed.

With this legislation and other actions, we're saying enough is enough. We just simply cannot let scammers get away with their criminal activities, which are, as I mentioned, depriving Australians of their hard-earned cash. Losing retirement savings is particularly crushing. We're creating a framework that ensures that companies do their bit to protect Australians, and this world-leading Scams Prevention Framework legislation will put obligations on sectors to prevent, detect, disrupt and respond to scammers.

The obligations will initially apply to banks, telcos and social media companies, where much of the scam activity currently occurs. If businesses fail to meet the tough obligations, they will be subject to penalties of up to $50 million, a significant amount, and will also be required to compensate victims. Under the coalition, those opposite, scam losses were doubling over that decade of inaction. Under our government, scam losses have fallen for the first time since 2016. This legislation will put Australia at the top of the pack when it comes to preventing scammers. It will ensure that the government delivers on its pre-election promise to protect the community from scammers.

Since being elected, our government has committed over $180 million to combat scams and online fraud. There have been positive signs from this government action and industry's effort to combat scams, yet losses remain unacceptably high. A few years ago, in 2023, scammers stole a staggering $2.7 billion—that's with a 'b'—from Australians, and scammers continue to cause significant psychological and emotional harm for victims and their families. Indeed, the whole community suffers. As I mentioned, I see this day in and day out in Darwin and Palmerston, and I know that Territorians, even in remote communities, are also scammed.

That harm is real. It affects those families and it means there's less money to put food on the table and to meet daily costs. Current scam protections have been piecemeal and inconsistent across the economy for too long. Consumers face inconsistent protections and responses across different industries and different providers. This bill will certainly help to address that. The framework being introduced in this bill is a central part of our government's broader consumer protection agenda. The Scams Prevention Framework is an economy-wide reform to protect consumers from scams by requiring the private sector to adhere to consistent, principles based obligations and strong, tailored industry codes which are enforceable.

It will ensure companies do their part to protect Territorians and all Australians. The framework will ensure that all parts of the ecosystem used by scammers are held to account for implementing strong and effective protections that are tailored to that sector's role in the conduct of a scam. This is absolutely essential for the protection of consumers, as it is common for scammers to use multiple platforms and services to deceive and steal from consumers. I sat with a constituent in my electorate office as they interacted with a scammer, and we reported the scammer. They were using her social media and carriage services to try and scam her there and then. When we tried to put a stop to it, they hit her from another carriage service. So all this was happening at the one time, and it was incessant and stressful for the individual. They were being ripped off, literally losing tens of thousands of dollars week by week. It's crushing for the individual and, as I said, has that huge effect on the families as well. It rips families apart in many cases.

We have a responsibility to the consumers that are using these platforms and services, who really are the ones that are ripped off here. That's why we're stepping up as a government to protect those who are being deceived. Often they are some of the most vulnerable people in their community. As I said, often it's retirement savings that have been stolen. Regulated entities will be required to take reasonable steps to help these Australians by preventing, detecting, reporting, disrupting and responding to scams and going on the front foot, doing more to help and stop the criminal behaviour. They also need to have governance arrangements in place relating to how they protect consumers from scams. Mandatory sector-specific codes will provide tailored, prescriptive obligations for each sector which are consistent with those principles. The sector-specific codes do not relieve a business from their obligations to take reasonable steps in all circumstances, recognising that scams are constantly evolving so businesses must evolve their response continually as well.

Banks, telecommunications providers and certain digital platforms offering social media, paid search advertising and direct messaging services will initially be designated under the framework, as they represent key vectors of harm for consumers. Bank transfer was the most reported payment method used by scammers, with $212.9 million in reported losses in 2023. Australians should be able to use a bank transfer to spend their hard-earned money without worrying about scammers or, indeed, to send their hard-earned money to their loved ones or to a service provider—anyone who they intend to send money to in good faith—without these scammers preying on them. Phone calls and social media were the contact methods associated with the highest value of losses, with $116 million and $93.5 million lost, respectively, in 2023.

Australians should be able to go about their day and use their phones in a number of ways on a number of platforms and engage with their friends and family on social media without having to worry about scammers, but, because we know that they are insistent, we're continuing to try and educate people about the dangers at the same time as putting the onus on the carriage providers. This bill will make sure that Australians can have greater confidence while always maintaining vigilance.

The bill will employ resources across our government regulators. We have a multiregulator model involving the ACCC as the regulator for the principles based obligations and ACCC, ASIC and ACMA as regulators for the sector-specific codes, which will capitalise on existing industry knowledge and expertise. This will ensure that no single regulator will be spread too thin as the framework expands to additional sectors, as scam activity will inevitably shift.

Regulators have access to significant civil penalties of up to $50 million for the most egregious breaches of the framework. This is intended to incentivise compliance with the framework and to provide adequate penalties to deter entities who may foresee higher possible gains from breaching the framework. Regulators will also have other compliance tools available, such as infringement notices, enforceable undertakings, injunctions, public warnings and remedial directions to ensure that the framework is administered as intended to protect consumers, to protect Australians. This will allow the regulator to implement this framework to protect Australians from scammers.

Our government has done a lot more than any other previous government and will continue to monitor what needs to be done into the future to provide the highest level of protection to Australians, all the while reminding them that the best way to prevent scammers is to be aware and to be preventive and to stop scammers in their tracks.

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