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

Imagine the surprise today for the member for Oxley, for the member for Whitlam, and for me when we found that Cash Converters has settled in a class action in which 68,000 Queenslanders, represented by Maurice Blackburn, were suing the company for being in breach of Queensland law. Meanwhile, in the federal parliament, we have waited for four years for those opposite to bring into law what has been in draft legislation for three years after a review. But there is no action on that side. The member for Deakin is culpable in this space. Let me tell you that we on this side will not give up on this issue. We will continue to stand at every opportunity to call out the payday lenders and this government, which has failed to stop them. All of this could be avoided—the exploitation limited, the misery and despair curtailed—with action from this government, with action from the member for Deakin. The class action highlights this government's inaction in an area that has nominal bipartisan support, an area that former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said would be acted upon this year! But still we wait, and every sitting day the member for Deakin walks through that door, completely unashamed of the fact that he will not protect Australians from payday loan sharks.