Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Wong for the question. I can give Senator Wong the answer that I have in my brief because I am certainly not the Minister for Revenue. I can tell her that ASIC has been helping people deal with Westpoint on a number of fronts and is working to ensure people receive the full protection of the law. Firstly, ASIC has been actively warning the public about the risks of high-yield investments since 2003, and it did so again in 2004 and 2005. Secondly, it approached Westpoint directly in 2003 and 2004 on their approach to both fundraising and disclosure. After these discussions failed, it ran a test case through the courts to clarify whether Westpoint had breached the requirements of the Corporations Act and whether investors were misled. A decision from the appeal process launched by ASIC has been handed down and it does confirm that the Westpoint schemes are subject to the investor protection provisions of the law. Thirdly, ASIC has acted to wind up the Westpoint companies and to appoint receivers to the personal assets of the company directors for the benefit of creditors.

ASIC is now doing its utmost to assist investors in recovering their losses. It has established a Westpoint page on its website to help investors understand what options they have and to take recovery action.