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

I join with the member for Lindsay. Water Safety is a worthwhile cause. As the parent of two young children, drowning is one of the biggest fears you are ever likely to have. I welcome and support his remarks.

I rise today to talk about two of my constituents, Mr and Mrs Goldner, whom I raised in question time on Tuesday. Mr and Mrs Goldner, for those who are not familiar with the case, were retirees. They were hardworking small business people all their life who ran businesses in the north-eastern part of Adelaide and had recently retired and bought a block of land on Hindmarsh Island on which they sought to build a house to live in. They purchased the land some time ago and engaged with a builder, which of course, as we will know, in recent times has been difficult because the construction industry has been so busy. They started building midyear, had the slab laid and were moving the timber to the site. They had their money invested in a short-term cash management account, a low-risk account, not one seeking high rates of interest but a place to hold their savings until they had to pay the builder. Unfortunately, the week before they were due to pay the builder their accounts were frozen. They were frozen because of a mistake made by the Treasurer in implementing his bank deposit guarantee. These people are struggling and the builder, who is owed a lot of money, potentially has to lay off staff. It is an extraordinarily difficult situation for all concerned, and I urge the Treasurer to remedy the situation.

I was disappointed, to say the least, with the response that I received when I inquired of the Treasurer of this issue in question time. This was a mistake, the Treasurer did not speak to the Governor of the Reserve Bank before he made this decision and he did not think through the consequences of this decision or of the innocent victims such as the Goldners. It is time that the government admitted the mistake. The opposition has supported the deposit guarantee all along. In fact, it was the idea of the Leader of the Opposition. We supported it with a cap—which, interestingly, is the Reserve Bank’s position. I urge the Treasurer to reconsider what he can do to help get these funds unfrozen, because it has become an urgent situation, as you would understand. I urge the government to do something to help my constituents, the Goldners.