Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General inform the House of the decision he announced on 2 September to relax regulatory restrictions with relation to class actions? Does he expect this will lead to more opportunities for class actions being funded by litigation-funding businesses?

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Berowra for his question. One of the most extraordinary things about the conduct of the former government during the pandemic was that it found time to try to prevent access to justice for ordinary Australians who were wanting to sue large corporations, companies with much deeper pockets than them. In order to get access to justice, we have class actions.

You would think that a government that actually cared about ordinary Australians would not have done what the former government did during the pandemic, would not have found time during the pandemic to engage in the sort of nonsense that the former Treasurer, the former member for Kooyong, engaged in, which included not just the introduction of a requirement for Australian financial services licences for litigation funders but also an attack on the continuous disclosure regime which actually supports the raising of capital for all Australian companies. What an extraordinary thing for a Treasurer of this country to do! But that was one of the things that the former Treasurer engaged in. Another thing, as I have mentioned, was the introduction of an Australian financial services licence requirement for all litigation funders. The extraordinary thing—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General will resume his seat. Members will cease interjecting. I would like to hear the Manager of Opposition Business in silence on the point of order.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a very specific question: will it lead to more opportunities for class actions being funded by litigation-funding businesses?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Manager of Opposition Business. The Attorney-General has provided a lot of context. I ask him to return to that part of the question before he concludes.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are very happy to restore access to justice for ordinary Australians.