Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to two of my constituents, Mr and Mrs Goldner, who have had their cash management account frozen following the government’s announcement of the bank deposit guarantee. Mr and Mrs Goldner had purchased a block of land on Hindmarsh Island and commenced building. They were due to pay the builder but cannot because their account has been frozen. What is the government doing to fix its policy and ensure that the Goldners and the almost 300,000 Australians who have had their funds frozen have access to their money?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I thank—

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mrs Mirabella interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Treasurer will resume his seat. I would suggest to the member for Indi that others are.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo for his question. There is certainly a difficult situation for many out there who have investments in the non-deposit-taking institutions. Those are investments that were made by people looking for a higher return and they are investments in funds which are certainly very worthy funds—very worthy investments—but to attribute all of the impact on the non-ADI sector to the bank guarantee is simply wrong and inaccurate. It has certainly been a factor and it has had an influence, but to attribute problems to do with mortgage trusts and all the rest of it solely to the bank guarantee is just wrong and inaccurate. I do not know what the member is arguing but, if he is arguing that we should extend the guarantee to all of those non-deposit-taking institutions, that is not something the government can responsibly do.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order on relevance. The Treasurer is asking what the member had asked for. It was: what are you going to do?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Dickson will resume his seat. The Treasurer is responding to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we are doing about it is that we are working with the various industry organisations to find solutions. There are no instantaneous solutions to investments in the market linked sector. They are not banks. They are not subject to the guarantee. People have made those investments and there are now adverse market outcomes, which we recognise. If you want to attribute all the blame for that to the government, go ahead. But the truth is there is a bigger problem out there which needs to be solved, and this government is working with our regulators—whether it is car finance, cash management trusts or mortgage trusts—on a sectoral basis to find solutions. There have been some practical solutions so far and I hope to see further progress as we go through. But, if those on that side of the House want to pretend there is some magic wand a government can wave and suddenly the whole impact of the global financial crisis is simply washed away in terms of these market linked investments, they are living in cloud-cuckoo-land.