Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Scams can have a devastating impact on people's lives and destroy people's lives in some instances. The Greens will be supporting the Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024 in the House because we have listened to key stakeholders, including many organisations that represent the interests of consumers, who are calling for the bill to be passed in this term of parliament. Australia is lagging behind other countries in our response to scams and, as a result, too many people and their families are harmed by scams each year. In 2023, tens of thousands of people across the country lost over $2.7 billion to scammers.

Scams wreak havoc on so many people's lives. Australia is lucrative for scammers because Labor and the coalition have, up until this point, failed to implement a comprehensive regulatory framework, leaving it largely to industry to undertake voluntary preventive measures. As a result, protections against scams are piecemeal and inadequate, often leaving people with no avenue to recover scam losses. This is reflected in the data as currently people, not businesses, pay for 96 per cent of scam losses. Whilst we are supporting this bill in the House, we strongly urge Labor to improve the bill by including a presumption—

We hear interjections from a Liberal member. Sorry, I can't remember your name. Frankly, it's astounding. You had nine years to fix this, and you have the gall to get up and lecture other people about not doing any work.

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