Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

And wi-fi. That's exactly right, Senator O'Sullivan. But, instead of just picking up where we left off in government or the current outstanding private member's bill, this government is giving a two-fingered salute to the tech industry here in Australia and saying: 'We are too proud. We are too stubborn.' Quite frankly, you are too incompetent to even just agree. Swallow your pride and say, 'This is a good bill, and this should be carried.' Australia needs innovation and not the stagnation that this new government—not so new anymore—is providing us, but we do need robust safeguards to ensure not only that the Australian financial services industry remains the most efficient and the safest in the world but also that it will provide opportunities for the next generation of Australians.

Let's have a little bit more of a look at the nature of this bill. What is in this bill to make those opposite so afraid of saying, 'Yes, this is the right thing for the Australian financial sector'? The bill itself is designed to regulate the digital asset gatekeepers, which are the exchange operators and asset holders, and also to impose industry standards. It does so by creating a single licensing structure with various authorisations. Licence holders will be subject to various obligations, to be developed in consultation with industry and the community.

When you listen to those, they are such commonsense regulatory requirements. They are good practice. They are world practice. But those opposite ditched the proposal that we were developing and that we actually would have implemented 12 months ago had we retained government, but we didn't. Those opposite came in with Minister Jones, and what has he done? Absolutely nothing. Now we are bringing a bill forward, courtesy of Senator Bragg and the hard work the committee has done, to fill this gap. Still, those opposite are so proud that they would rather squander the opportunities in this sector than say, 'Yes, we will support this bill so that this sector can move on.'

What else does this do? In relation to stablecoins, the bill provides minimum reserve standards to ensure that stablecoin issuers hold in reserve the full amount of their face-value liabilities on issue in accounts kept with an authorised deposit-taking institution here in Australia. Think about that. That is such an important protection for Australians in relation to stablecoins. It is good practice. It is world's best practice, yet those opposite do not have a plan and do not support implementing this bill to protect Australian businesses and Australian individuals.

In respect of central bank digital currencies, the bill will also require banks and financial institutions to make disclosures to ASIC and the Reserve Bank regarding their use and management of foreign central bank digital currencies here in Australia. This approach follows the approach taken in the US but in an expanded and a more effective way. But, again, Labor are opposing this. Labor are opposing these protections, and it is a complete and utter disgrace.

The bill also provides critical consumer protections that would have safeguarded consumers during recent notable exchange failures, including FTX, ACX.io, MyCryptoWallet and Blockchain Global Limited. Everybody in this chamber is aware of those. This bill is actually designed to protect Australians from such fraud and crimes. The bill empowers ASIC to monitor and enforce licensee requirements and provides the requisite civil and criminal penalties available to deter such misconduct against Australians.

Sadly for Australians, this is yet another failure of those opposite. They didn't pursue the work that we had started and was well advanced in 2022. When they came to government, Minister Jones chucked it in the bin. Instead of actually implementing or just rebadging it as their own, he has done nothing for 18 months—nothing! Here you have, courtesy Senator Bragg, an outstanding bill which would get this sector going. It would provide the protections Australian individuals and companies need to operate safely and profitably. It would also be the signal, if passed, for foreign capital, which is now going elsewhere to other markets in this sector, to come here to Australia and to have the confidence to invest. By not implementing legislation of their own or this private senator's bill, those opposite are knowingly and deliberately—possibly just incompetently—making Australia a sovereign risk for foreign capital. You are not making it easy or possible for Australians to engage in this new economy safely and securely—shame on you. I don't think anybody could have imagined the damage those opposite have managed to wreak in the economy. We heard yesterday that through their incompetence they have had to let over 80 people out of detention—