Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Financial Services. How can a lack of financial advice harm consumers already impacted by the cost of living, and what is the Albanese Labor government doing to protect consumers from this?

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the outstanding member for Fraser for his question. I take the opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding work he's doing as the chair of the House economics committee, with a steady hand, particularly on difficult issues that they're dealing with around insurance affordability and the claims handling. I pay tribute to the great work he's doing.

It's true that the Albanese government wants Australians to earn more money and keep more of the money that they earn, and, if they're able to save that money or invest that money, we want to ensure that that money is kept safe because we understand you can't keep people safe unless you're keeping their money safe. Unfortunately, when we came into government, the place was in a complete mess. Losses to scammers had doubled, doubled and doubled again, because the members opposite thought that, if somebody lost their money to scammers, they were mugs. We take a different view. We understand that these are sophisticated international criminal gangs, and we're going to go after them. They're accessing that information on Facebook or Instagram, publishing criminal material and taking innocent Australians' money. They were left to run wild by members opposite, but we're going after them.

Of course, one of the reasons that Australians have been accessing that information from Facebook or Instagram is that, under the government of members opposite, we had fewer and fewer doors from which to get financial advice. Under their watch, 12,000 financial advisers left the industry. No new entrants came in. They were asleep at the wheel. We're changing all of that because we understand that not only do we have to crack down on the scammers; but we've got to ensure that there are safe doors for Australians to enter to get good information and good expert advice that they can rely on to keep their money safe.

We've got a program of work which is rolling out, with expert advice, including from the member for Fraser, informing government policy, and it has been well received by industry. I want to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to members on the crossbench who have also engaged with me on this. A number of the new members to parliament on the crossbench have engaged with me on this, and I thank them for their engagement, because it's been very useful in the formulation of our policy. I also say to members of the opposition that I'd be willing to engage with them on these issues, but today is 299 days since they have had a spokesperson for financial services for consumer affairs—299 days that show they are— (Time expired)