Carina Garland
Chisholm · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Having seen them again last week, I can say the students of St Roch's are absolutely leaders. They debated whether video games should be an official sport, if plastic packaging on all food items should be banned, whether museums should return ancient artefacts to countries of origin and whether smartwatches should be banned in the classro…”
“We're also clarifying the CFMEU administrator's biannual financial reporting requirements, which currently require a report effectively immediately at the conclusion of a given financial year. In this bill, we're also committed to ensuring truckies get a fair go.”
“This government is giving them the tools to do just that, and I'm really proud to be able to represent so many bright young people in this place. Just last week, I had the great pleasure of visiting St Roch's Catholic Primary School in Glen Iris as a guest adjudicator for their year 6 civics and citizenship debating competition.”
“The intention here is to ensure that more truck drivers can access our quick and easy process to challenge an unfair contract in the Fair Work Commission.”
“It's important to highlight that our reforms are essential in ensuring that our workplace relations framework continues to be fit for purpose, continues to deliver fairer wages and secure jobs not just in my electorate of Chisholm but right across Australia.”
“We know that secure jobs drive participation in communities. I spoke about this in my very first speech—that, when people have certainty over hours and wages, they can make commitments to their local communities. They can put down roots. They can know that on their weekends they'll have time to give to their local sporting clubs.”
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“Phone calls and social media were the contact methods associated with the highest value of losses. In 2023, these losses were $116 million for phone calls and $93.5 million for social media contact. Again, this information comes from Scamwatch. Just as a sidenote, Scamwatch is a really important way for the government to keep track of what scammers' activity is. I myself have made complaints and reports to Scamwatch when scammers have attempted to trick me, so I encourage people to put a report through to Scamwatch when they are contacted by scammers. Other sectors such as superannuation, cryptocurrency, online marketplaces and other payment providers may be designated under the Scams Prevention Framework in the future.”
“Mandatory sector-specific codes will provide tailored prescriptive obligations to each sector which are consistent with the principles; however, the sector-specific codes do not relieve a business from its obligations to take reasonable steps in all circumstances. Recognising that scams are constantly evolving, businesses must be evolving in their response as well. Banks, telecommunication providers and certain digital platforms offering social media, paid search advertising and direct messaging services will initially be designated under the Scams Prevention Framework, as they represent key factors of harm for consumers. Bank transfer was the most reported payment method used by scammers, with $212.9 million in reported losses in 2023, according to Scamwatch.”
“The consistent and enforceable approach of the Scams Prevention Framework will ensure that incentives and obligations are in place across key sectors that scammers take advantage of to cause deep harm in the community. The Scams Prevention Framework will ensure that all parts of the ecosystem used by scammers are equally held to account for implementing strong and effective protections that are tailored to that sector's role in the conduct of a scam. This is really essential for the protection of consumers, as its common for scammers to use multiple platforms and services to deceive and steal from people. Regulated entities will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent, detect, report, disrupt and respond to scams and to have governance arrangements in place relating to how entities will protect consumers from scams.”
“Current scam protections are piecemeal and inconsistent across the economy, and, therefore, consumers face inconsistent protections and responses from different industries and providers. The Scams Prevention Framework being introduced in this bill is world-leading legislation and a central part of our broader consumer protection agenda, which is economy-wide reform—moving away from that inconsistency that we've seen. This economy-wide reform is designed to protect consumers from scams by requiring the private sector to adhere to consistent principles based obligations and strong tailored industry codes which are enforceable.”
“We made a promise ahead of the last election to protect the community from scammers, and, since being elected, our government have committed over $180 million to combat scams and online fraud. So far, there have been really positive signs from our efforts to combat scams. Yet, unfortunately, scam losses do remain unacceptably high. In 2023, scammers stole $2.7 billion from Australians, and scammers continue to cause real psychological and emotional harm to victims and their families. I'm sure most members in this place have had the experience of sitting with, speaking to and listening to constituents who have unfortunately fallen victim to scammers. Scammers are very sophisticated in the way they operate, and anyone can be a victim of their actions.”
“This piece of legislation, the Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024, is going to be very welcome in my electorate. I've held a number of scams forums over the last few years, in Wheelers Hill, Burwood, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley and suburbs beyond, and they've been incredibly well attended events because there is huge community anxiety about the proliferation of scams. There is also a real sense of relief that our government is taking steps to crack down on scammers. My office has given out countless copies of the The Little Book o f Scams , and I'll use this opportunity in the parliament to remind my constituents that they can contact our office at any time to receive their free copy. Our government has taken really seriously the responsibility to crack down on scammers.”
“In my community, I'm really worried that that will mean the closure of an urgent care clinic—an urgent care clinic that I hear positive feedback about all the time. I'm genuinely worried that that will happen. I'm really worried that those young people putting themselves through vocational education and training will be forced to pay extra for their courses. Australia cannot risk the Leader of the Opposition becoming Prime Minister.”
“That's why the cost of living remains the government's No.1 focus, doing what we can to help households and putting all of our efforts towards helping in meaningful ways, such as providing urgent care clinics, providing free TAFE and doing what we can to reduce university debt. We're not really that interested in providing free, long lunches for bosses, unlike those opposite, because we think the priority should be helping those doing it tough in our communities. We know that the biggest risk to the progress we've made together in this government would be a coalition government. Their track record is appalling. We heard on the weekend that there will be cuts—of that we are assured—but we don't know what those cuts will look like. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the Leader of the Opposition will once again come after Medicare.”
“Real wages are growing again, now for four quarters in a row, and we're delivering cost-of-living relief, including, of course, a tax cut for every taxpayer and energy bill relief for every household. When I've been out doorknocking in my community, I know that these measures are making a difference in people's lives. Our economic plan is squarely focused on helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn. Our policies, we know, are making a difference, but we do acknowledge that people are doing it tough. We know that the good progress in the national numbers that we see doesn't always translate into how people are feeling and faring in the community.”
“Indeed, when given the opportunity to help people who are doing it tough in our communities, those opposite have walked away from the opportunity to help. On this side of the House, we acknowledge that people are under pressure and we do know that they would be under even more pressure if those opposite had their way. Our government are working really hard to do what we can to ease pressures on households. We've overseen the creation of more than 1.1 million new jobs, of which four out of every five have been in the private sector. We've seen nominal wages growing at almost double the average of what they did under those opposite. Headline inflation is almost a third of what we inherited, and underlying inflation is at a three-year low.”
“We saw that their track record was appalling and had already seen the lowering of living standards in this country. We saw under those opposite living standards going backwards 1.6 per cent in the quarter of the election. Living standards were 3.7 per cent below their peak at the time of the election, and living standards fell 13 out of the 35 quarters the opposition were in office. We saw inflation increasing on their watch, and they outrageously had a deliberate strategy to suppress wages and to see wage stagnation as a key feature of their economic strategy. Let's not forget either that those opposite attempted to shame the now Prime Minister for seeking an increase in wages for Australia's lowest-paid workers. So there is not much of a good track record from those opposite when it comes to living standards.”
“I think our communities expect us to do what we can to ease cost-of-living pressures when households feel them. I really do earnestly believe that that is the expectation of the community. I wish too that those opposite demonstrated their care for people struggling with the cost of living, but we haven't seen any meaningful evidence of that. We hear these MPIs when we're here in Canberra, but what we don't see is meaningful action. Let's not forget that those opposite have voted against all meaningful cost-of-living relief measures that our government has implemented. Not only do we know that they are a danger to our living standards if, heaven forbid, they ever sat on the Treasury benches again; we know what they did when they were last in government.”