Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

This is my first opportunity to congratulate you, Madam President, on your appointment. I am sure you will do an outstanding job.

I rise to talk on behalf of Donna Gilchrist, who lives in the Hunter. Donna and I met during prepolling for the election campaign. Donna has a story that she is desperate to tell. Donna, as a retiree, moved from Sydney to the Lake Macquarie area, took up residence in a new place and thought she wanted some work done. So she did what so many people do and got online to look for a tradesman. Unfortunately, she got scammed, like so many of our aged and vulnerable do. She entered into an agreement with an alleged local gardener, who called himself Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance, whereby she paid him upfront, and then he did not return the services.

So Donna went to the police, and the police said, 'This is a contractual dispute. It's not a criminal matter, so we can't help you,' despite, apparently, the police having heard before about Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance, and from previous enterprises. According to Donna, she now has evidence and believes that Luke is a habitual scammer who has perpetrated dishonest activities under the guise of presenting himself as a qualified tradesman. She's got evidence and commentary from at least two separate individuals. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, these individuals don't want to admit publicly that they've been scammed. One such individual who spoke to Donna is still a practising accountant. He doesn't want to put his name to the allegation. He's worried it will affect his business, because how can a smart, intelligent, qualified accountant be so easily scammed?

This is an issue that happens far too often in our society, but the police are hamstrung because the laws don't account for it. In cases like this, where it is often a cash transaction, other authorities that are available to look at contractual disputes can't do anything, so the matter is left to civil affairs. But people like Donna, a retiree who was set to start her new life in the Lake Macquarie area and was looking forward to a glorious garden that she could potter around in in her latter years, get scammed, get taken for their savings and get left.

Donna reached out to A Current Affair, who did respond to her inquiry, requesting further information by way of photos and corroboration. Donna provided both, but because those corroborating the story would not put their names to it, A Current Affair decided, and probably for quite just legal reasons, not to progress with the story. So Donna, at her wits' end, was talking to me on the polling booth and she said, 'I just want someone to hear my story. I just want someone to warn people that people like Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance are out there and to give people a cautionary tale so that it doesn't happen to others.'