Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. This is an important, timely and necessary debate for this chamber to be having. It is a necessary and timely debate, and I urge the senators here today, while looking at this matter about whether or not this is urgent, to take a few minutes and read the Hansards of some of the evidence and testimony that has been given in the inquiries we have been holding about these matters in recent months. I note that Senator Heffernan is not in the chamber at the moment, but if you had participated, as Senator Heffernan did, in our forestry managed investment scheme hearing in the Timbercorp collapse last week, you would have been moved, you would have been touched and you would realise how important and necessary this debate is.

We are going to have plenty of opportunity today to talk about the substantive elements of this issue. One thing Senator Fifield said was correct—it is something I am very passionate about. It is something I care deeply about. I urge all senators to take some time today to speak to some of the victims groups that have come up here to speak to them. Speak to the victims of Timbercorp, speak to National Seniors, speak to the Council on the Ageing, speak to Choice—they are all in the building today; they are all around to speak to senators—and hear some of these harrowing, horrible tales. Sometimes in this chamber we get caught up with politics. There is a place for politics and there is a place for doing what is right, and this is about doing what is right. There is a reason why every single consumer and advocacy group in this country that looks after the interests of consumers believes that these are bad laws, that these are bad regulations and that they should not be supported.

I am proud to stand together with a series of crossbench senators, with a group of senators from different political backgrounds, from different political views, and say that these are bad laws, these are bad regulations and they should be disallowed. We are going to get to the substantive part of the debate later, and there will be plenty of opportunity to speak then. I urge the Senate to realise the urgency of this debate, the importance of this debate. For far too long too many victims have been silenced; for far too long too many people's stories have not been told. We are an incredibly privileged, lucky group of people to be able to be here in the Senate and to be able to have the opportunities we have. We also have an incredible responsibility to the many Australians who have been less fortunate—the Australians who have been victims of financial crime, the Australians who have been left behind, who have been given a dodgy information. What we are saying is let us have a debate today and say that protecting consumers and protecting consumer rights, protecting the victims of financial crime, is a priority that we will be dealing with today.