Shayne Neumann
Blair · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“The new service will be built at Rosewood State School to help local families avoid the double drop-off in the morning—and in the afternoon, I might add—and help students to make a smoother transition to school.”
“It builds on our landmark schools funding agreement with the Queensland government to provide a record $2.8 billion in additional Commonwealth funding to Queensland state schools over the next 10 years, all tied to reforms to lift education standards.”
“The second capital upgrade involved $850,000 for a new custom amenities block at Linville State School, a little country school in the northern Somerset region, which has delivered modern facilities to ensure students' health and safety needs are met.”
“Labor is the party of education. The Albanese Labor government is building the education infrastructure we need in my electorate and building a better and fairer education system from preschool to tertiary.”
“An upgrade to the Mount Crosby interchange on the Warrego Highway is critical to the lives, lifestyle and livelihoods of the people of Ipswich. Last night, I was appalled to hear media reports that the Queensland LNP government is proposing in this week's budget to cut funding for the Mount Crosby interchange in my electorate.”
“I remember being in this House, in this parliament, when the coalition voted against the natural disaster funding, much of which was going to local councils in Queensland. It cost $11 billion of taxpayers' funding to rebuild Queensland after the 2011 floods.”
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“We're working to ensure consumers get swift access to justice and that we have the right incentives in place to protect their interests. We're deliberately taking a preventative approach so scams don't happen in the first place, because it's always better to prevent a crime happening than to rely on compensation. The reality is that this is the toughest legislation the world has seen, and it's clear that there's strong support for it to pass. We'll work through some of the details, but the overwhelming message from the inquiry was that strong prevention measures are needed. This bill is just one part of an ambitious anti-scam agenda the government is rolling out to protect Australians.”
“The framework will ensure that all points of the scam chain are held to account, as it is common for scammers to use multiple platforms and services to steal from consumers. The Senate Economics Legislation Committee's report on the bill recommended it be passed. I know that as part of that inquiry a range of views on the bill and our Scams Prevention Framework were expressed by both parliamentarians and stakeholders. Some of the claims from the Greens and crossbench senators in the context of the inquiry, suggesting the government was protecting banks, were frankly ridiculous. As I said before, our world-first approach will ensure all parts of the scams chain have to account for the actions they take to protect consumers. The banks themselves have said that when they're at fault they will reimburse victims, and that will continue.”
“We don't want just one sector to be responsible; we want the whole chain to be responsible. The rationale is that placing liability on banks alone fails to recognise and hold to account entities that have had many opportunities to stop a scam before harm is caused to the consumer. It's the same thing in all forms of litigation: you look at the different groups and organisations who are at fault. Whether it's negligence or breach of contract, you look at everyone. You don't pick on one particular sector or one particular business. That may be why we've seen some of the banks come out and raise concerns about social media companies' management of scams on their platforms.”
“It's also worth noting that other sectors, such as superannuation, cryptocurrency, online marketplaces and other payment providers, may be designated under the framework in future. I know there has been some criticism that the legislation is too soft on the banks. The previous speaker said that it was just on the banks and nothing else. There have been calls for the framework to go further, particularly in respect of mandatory reimbursement by banks. The government have not taken a mandatory presumption of reimbursement approach, like the United Kingdom's, because we want to incentivise actions to address scam activity across the entire scam activity chain, including banks, tech platforms and telcos, and not leave some sectors with lower expectations and responsible for liability.”
“In addition, the framework will allow the minister to make rules setting out guidance on how to apportion liability at an internal dispute resolution between one or more businesses who are at fault to assist victims seeking redress. It will enable a single external dispute resolution scheme for scam complaints made under the framework where a dispute cannot be resolved through internal dispute resolution. AFCA operates like that now on insurance issues, for a start. It will build a mandatory coordinated intelligence sharing ecosystem that requires timely reporting and information sharing across industry and government. I might add that the reforms have been subject to extensive consultation—it's a pity those opposite didn't listen to the people who gave us feedback—and stakeholders broadly support the system that we're bringing in.”
“Consumers were left to fend for themselves before we put big business on the hook for redress when they failed to stop scammers. Once the legislation passes, the framework will enable the minister to establish some sector-specific codes, and the codes will impose mandatory obligations on banks and the other organisations that I talked about. It will mandate that these designated sectors have internal dispute resolution mechanisms that are clear, accessible and transparent for consumers. We're familiar with this type of process, and I don't know why we're being criticised for it, because it operates across a whole range of sectors in the economy. Currently, social media platforms have no mechanism for consumers to raise disputes.”
“Under the framework, designated businesses—initially banks, social media platforms and telecommunications companies, where a lot of the scam activity currently occurs—will face fines of up to $50 million if they don't take reasonable steps to prevent, detect, disrupt, respond to and report scams and attempted scams in their business. Victims will have clear pathways to compensation if businesses fail in their obligations. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the ACCC, gets new powers under this legislation to direct businesses to take specific steps to keep their customers safe from scammers, and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority—who, I might add, could do a lot better on insurance issues in relation to floods—will be empowered to resolve consumer claims over scams in these sectors.”
“This landmark legislation has been criticised by those opposite, but I notice that in nine years they didn't do anything like this. This landmark legislation delivers on an election commitment. We knew in opposition that we had to do things. We knew that the previous government had sat on their hands. It didn't matter whether the Prime Minister was an Abbott, Turnbull or Morrison. This bill establishes a whole-of-economy approach. It places obligations on key businesses through the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The framework is the cornerstone delivering on our commitment. The legislation puts real obligations on banks, social media companies and telcos to prevent scams or face hefty fines and compensation for victims. The previous speaker talked about the difficulties. That's why we want to take action.”
“Maybe they've got a get-rich-quick scheme, and it looks fantastic: 'If you only invest in it, you'll do well.' So it takes many forms. The current scam protections are a bit all over the place. They're not consistent across the economy, and there are different protections and responses across different industries and providers. So we're taking up the fight. This is an all-encompassing framework. It's coherent. It will make a difference. It's about prevention, detection, disruption and response. The Scams Prevention Framework, as we call it, will become an important part, the central part, of the government's broader consumer protection agenda. So this will make a difference. We're providing some strong defences.”
“I'm pleased to say that this legislation, I believe, will make a difference. It's the Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024. The Albanese government is protecting people from the scourge of scams, and we're taking this seriously. We want to make Australia the toughest place in the world for scammers to operate, and we are making a difference. We know that scam activity is on the rise. That doesn't mean to say that people are falling for it, but the activity is there. That wonderful thing which we call the internet has allowed people from all parts of the world to tap into it and present themselves as some person who truly loves you and wants you to give them money because they're in desperate need, or they've got some sort of scam all over the place.”
“Before we brought forward this legislation, we invested $180 million. And we've actually got scam losses in Australia down from $3.1 billion in 2022 to $2.7 billion in 2023. That's a decline of 13.1 per cent because of the action taken by this Labor government. So we're taking steps, and we've got this legislation before the chamber, which will make a big difference. But we've still got a situation in this country where about 601,000 Australians were scammed last year, including some in this place. We all have family and friends who have been scammed, and scams take many forms and are insidious and clever. I remember being on a number of parliamentary committees involving gambling when people anonymously or privately were giving us evidence in relation to the way they were scammed. These were very prominent people in the country.”
“Scams take many forms. They include investment scams, remote access scams and romance scams. I remember making a speech, as what we now call the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, in the Brisbane convention centre in relation to what we were doing in respect of fraud and scams involving credit cards, and I said to the departmental officials: 'Is this correct? This figure that I've got to talk about is in the billions, not millions.' But, when I look back on the nine years of the Morrison government, the Abbott government before that and the Turnbull government wedged in between, they did nothing. We get lectures from those opposite about it, but they did nothing in relation to the issue over nine long years. So we won't cop this criticism that they're making of us.”
“My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Why did the Albanese Labor government abolish the 'golden ticket' visa? Is the minister aware of proposals that would undermine the integrity of our visa system?”