Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I was giving this speech 20 years ago, the focus would be on warning Australians, especially older people, against falling prey to door-to-door salespeople pushing a scam or products they don't need. I'll never forget my mum's reaction when we visited my grandpa one Sunday. It was after my grandma had died. To use the technical term, she lost her mind at him when she realised that he'd fallen prey to a door-to-door carpet salesman who'd sold him massively overpriced, crappy carpet that was put through every square centimetre of the house, including around the toilet, which was not ideal for an elderly gentleman living alone and struggling with his own cleaning. You can imagine the visuals yourselves. If I was giving this speech 10 years ago, the focus would be on warning people against telemarketing scams and giving credit card and personal information over the phone.

These things are still a problem, but, today, they are dwarfed by the scale of the losses Australians are incurring through online scams. They come in all shapes and sizes, the modern-day criminal syndicate. Most of it is highly organised crime. Scammers are determined and also creative. The majority of scams are investment related. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true and is not true. There are stellar returns and also a sense of urgency—you're told you've got get in now to get the returns. I heard from the National Anti-Scam Centre recently that that psychological pressure, the fake urgency that is created with deadlines and missed opportunities, is part of their toolkit.

Some of the scams are almost little comical. I do accept that the Nigerian princess doesn't want to marry me if only I send money for the plane ticket. I'm pretty sure that I didn't win lotto and don't need to give my bank account details. I often get invited to give my details about a Commonwealth Bank account that I don't have and so on. But it is a deadly serious issue, which is why the government is taking it seriously.

There's good news, though. We don't always do good news here. But both the dollar value lost and the number of people scammed in Australia are now falling for the first time in a decade. Losses are down from $3.1 billion. Last year, Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams. This year, it's tracking a lot lower just in the first quarter. I want to congratulate the Prime Minister and particularly the Assistant Treasurer for their work on implementing a serious anti-scams policy. It's something the Assistant Treasurer personally worked on and drove in opposition. It came out of forums from around the country, from listening to Australians. It's a really good, cost-effective policy, and it's working. The National Anti-Scam Centre is up and running. The SMS Sender ID Registry to prevent scammers using trusted government or industry brand names is in place. ASIC, the corporate regulator, has been given resources to go after investment scam websites. They've already taken more than 5,000 scam websites down. There are mandatory industry codes coming for banks, telcos, social media, digital messaging, search ad services and so on, with legislation to be introduced over the next financial year to give effect to those codes in a legal form. The ATO, the tax office, is taking action to stop fraudsters.

The government's determination and action comes with a considered policy developed in opposition. Unlike that mob, we used our time in opposition to good effect. We developed—I'm glad those opposite are sitting down!—actual, real policies to respond to a problem and make things better. We are implementing them and they are working. There's a tip for free. Anger and negativity is not a plan. Anger and negativity is not a strategy to make the country better.

But there's only so much the Australian government can do on scams, of course. This is highly organised crime, and we need to work with our international partners and collaborate globally. It requires a regional approach. Many scammers are organised criminal outfits in Myanmar, Cambodia, Eastern Europe and so on. Often, shockingly and shamefully, they are run and perpetrated by people who have been trafficked, who are bound and bonded in slavery and torture. Countries like Cambodia and others need to take this far more seriously. We work with Interpol, we work through our cybersecurity agencies, through the AFP and so on.

The final thing I want to say is that community response and action is important. I encourage everyone in the community to speak up to report a scam they're experiencing, because it's only with that intelligence that our law enforcement agencies and the National Anti-Scam Centre can do their job more effectively.