Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. Senator Scarr was also a terrific contributor to that very technical Senate inquiry, which was looking at new technologies and new ways of banking and moving currency and finance around the world. And Australia is missing out. Australia has been beaten in this regard by many other jurisdictions, including Nigeria, which is not usually expected to be a financial powerhouse in something like digital currencies and cryptocurrencies. But they are outstripping Australia and taking action on managing this very issue.

This bill would require banks and financial institutions to make disclosures to ASIC and the Reserve Bank regarding to the use and management of foreign CBDCs in Australia. This is very important. This approach follows the one taken in the US but in a more expanded capacity. The protections would have safeguarded consumers during recent notable exchange failures, including FTX, ACX.io, MyCryptoWallet and Blockchain Global Ltd. This bill would have provided critical consumer protection. That's exactly what this bill aims to do. And it would empower ASIC, as I've already mentioned, to monitor and enforce licence requirements. It would empower the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services with inquiry and reporting functions to ensure the appropriate implementation of the bill.

This is urgent. This action is urgent. In the absence of any sort of movement, apart from another review, then who are consumers expecting will protect them? There will be other failures. We know that. This is the world we live in. Yet Labor remains flat-footed on protecting anybody apart from their union mates and big super.

The bill has been described by Blockchain Australia as a 'foundational start towards a comprehensive digital asset regulatory framework'. There was vast agreement by stakeholders who gave evidence to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee's inquiry that the bill's approach is correct. So we have broadscale support for an important piece of legislation to address an issue that is looming large for consumers and for industry. But the government thinks that it's not important. They obviously didn't listen to the evidence that was provided to the economics committee, because there was broad agreement with the stated outcome of the licensing regime and many of the licensee obligations.

This lack of modern regulatory support we are seeing right across industry, we are seeing in the resources sector. We are seeing inappropriate environmental regulations. We are seeing inappropriate regulation for important CCUS projects. We see the government fund the Environmental Defenders Office to undermine their very own decisions. But they will not take action on providing greater certainty and transparency for industry. I see it in the resources sector, I see in the agricultural sector and now, of course, here we are seeing it in the banking sector in the absence of protection and appropriate regulation and legislation for this new world.

We are seeing a government that is much more focused on looking backwards. I think pretty well all of their talking points are focused on what the coalition did. They very rarely talk about what their vision is, what their future for Australia is. It doesn't exist in their minds. They're so busy looking backwards and taking orders from the unions and the super funds that they are missing opportunities to ensure that Australia remains a country with a First World standard of living. They are missing opportunities to ensure that we are receiving investment and good, well-paid and, in this regard, smart jobs, because this investment is going elsewhere. It's going to other countries that have appropriate frameworks for it, and instead Australia is left with just the criminal element of cryptocurrencies. Australia is left with the dark web drug runners, paedophilia rings an others who want to escape the attention of regulators, because they are unregulated.

The entire point of this bill is that digital assets are no longer a niche product. They're no longer something so rare and unusual. This industry has potential to disrupt traditional financial services and provide Australian customers and consumers with better, lower prices. It could establish a suitable framework to regulate digital assets and it's critical to embracing the digital economy. As one witness said, 'If Australia fails to adapt to and enable digital business models, these platforms will still be built, but they will simply be built in other jurisdictions or remain in dark parts of the economy, leaving consumers and investors exposed.' What a terrific summary of the threats and risks that Australia is exposed to if this legislation is not passed.