Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I guess I'd make the assertion that, whether it is a credit product, an insurance product or an advice product—which Senator Whish-Wilson alluded to—there is kind of a baseline test which ought to be met, which is that the product has the capacity to introduce innovation that genuinely benefits consumers. I don't think that is a test that is disputed. My question is: why would a general test that goes to consumer benefit not be included in the primary legislation? It would provide some assurance to those who are watching the process here and asking themselves about where the consumer fits in in all of this. I understand that payday lending is not on the menu for the sandbox at the moment, but it is a very good example of the kind of innovation you can come up with if you really put your mind to it that uses digital, uses online, uses targeting, looks really nifty and is integrated with other kinds of business services but is actually really terrible for consumers. I present it—and, presumably, the consumer advocates present it—because we shouldn't be naive about the idea that innovation, in and of itself, is good for consumers. Some innovations are and some aren't. Our position, I guess, is that the idea that that test ought to be good for consumers should be a core feature of the legislation, not just something that is popped into a subordinate instrument and can be removed pretty easily by a minister.