Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We could vote today on drafted legislation—legislation that those opposite will not bring into this chamber, but on which, if they did, we could vote today—to protect vulnerable Australians from payday lenders, these sharks in our community, that are ripping off vulnerable people. Yesterday, the Fairfax media ran an article on this. We've had the media interested in this for some time now. We've had the Telegraphcover it. We've had A Current Affair cover it. But those opposite seem completely uninterested.

We need action today. Is this Prime Minister a member of the parliamentary friends of payday lending? We know that the minister responsible is! We have had four ministers and a thousand days since they accepted the review. They accepted the recommendations. They drafted the legislation. And we are still waiting. Members of my community want to know why we are waiting. They want to see a Prime Minister stand up for people against other people who just want to use them to make money.

On this side of the House, we proudly stand behind the member for Maribyrnong, Bill Shorten, and we say: 'Give us a Labor government and we'll fix this issue!' This side of the House is very concerned about it.

The backbench over there need to stand up and protect people. They need to tell their cabinet colleagues to get in here and bring that legislation in. Let's vote to stop these sharks ripping off vulnerable people.