Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I must say I haven't seen the report from ASIC today, but I know that this has been a real priority for the Assistant Treasurer, even before he had the job, when in opposition. We could see what scams were doing across the community, in particular where they affected a lot of elderly Australians. The Assistant Treasurer has had a number of forums, going around the country. The audience is always packed, and it's always an older crowd, hungry for information about how to manage scams.

I'm not sure I'm in the position to give you information specifically in response to the ASIC report, but I can say we have been increasing our investment in addressing the scams, including in the recent budget where we put in over $60 million to combat scams and online fraud through the introduction of new codes which spell out the responsibility of the private sector. The industry codes, of course, start with banks, telcos and digital platforms and will require them to have measures in place to prevent, detect, disrupt, stop and report scams. This will be complemented by regulatory enforcement action and penalties for noncompliance. The codes also provide a pathway for consumers to be compensated if a bank, telco or digital platform has done the wrong thing. The scam's code framework has been consulted on across Minister Rowland's and Minister Jones's portfolio, and we'll bring legislation to the parliament this year.

I'll just provide a bit of extra information in the time I have left. The money that we put in this year's budget builds on the $86.5 million we put in last year's budget to invest in scam prevention across ASIC, ACCC and the ACMA.