I'm pleased to follow Labor's shadow minister for consumer affairs in speaking on this legislation, from this side of the House, and I want to acknowledge the work she's done in advocating for better protections for Australian consumers—something which, unfortunately, this government has continually proven not to be trusted with time after time. However, on the matter we are debating today, I'm happy to see the government come forward with a bill which seeks to address unfairness for Australian consumers.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Gift Cards) Bill 2018 seeks to enfranchise gift card recipients who have been adversely affected by a previously disjointed state-by-state approach to Australian gift card regulation. As we've heard, we know that in Australia a million gift cards, with an estimated value of $2.5 billion, are estimated to be sold each year by national retailers and small businesses. One of the commonly used terms and conditions of gift cards is the expiry date. If you're anything like me or the thousands of Australians who receive gift cards every year, whether they be from Bunnings or the retailer of your choice, you'll know it's quite easy to be caught out by an expiry date, with the value of that gift diverting straight back to the retailer without any goods being purchased. Losses from Australian gift card expiry are estimated to be around $70 million annually. Whether it be Christmas, a birthday, Mother's Day or Father's Day, it's easy for anyone to fall into the trap of it happening, much to the disappointment of both the giver and the receiver of the gift card.
Research by CHOICE found in a survey of 1,000 Australian that 88 per cent have given or received a gift card in the last 12 months. On average, Australians received and gave two gift cards in the last year. Their report on gift cards stated that, while gift cards might seem like a convenient option, selecting the wrong one can see your loved one wrapped in tricky terms and conditions and stuck with nothing more than a piece of plastic by next Christmas. The current disparity in state and territory legislation means there are no uniform requirements for minimum expiry dates on gift cards, creating complexity for consumers and businesses. This bill implements a minimum three-year expiry period for Australian gift cards, improving fairness for consumers and ensuring they have an appropriate period of time to redeem the balance of a gift card, leading to a reduction in breakage. Basically, you've got a longer period to redeem your gift card.
My sister sends an email out around October each year and says all of her Christmas shopping is done—one of the few Australians I know. Like most of us, I leave my Christmas shopping until perhaps the day or two days before and dramatically run around the stores.
Mr Buchholz: Sensible!
Mr DICK: Well, the member for Wright might get a Christmas card this year or even a gift card, but he'll have three years to redeem it. That is what this bill is doing tonight, while the added bonus is that there are no restrictions on retailers providing a longer expiry period. It will also enforce rules to make expiry dates more visible and easier to understand for consumers so there are no unexpected surprises.
However, there are some shortcomings in this bill. Concerns have been raised surrounding the rights of recipients of gift cards from businesses that have, since the point of purchase, experienced insolvency, which this bill unfortunately does not address. I ask the government tonight to consider the consumer protection concerns at the consumer affairs forum of territory and state ministers, whenever that may occur. The government, with its now sixth minister responsible for consumer affairs in five years, has let Australian consumers down by deferring the national consumer affairs forum, which was scheduled in August, but something like a leadership coup overtook events, which meant that, unfortunately, those discussions did not take place.
On the matter before the House today, on this side of the House we are pleased the government has finally brought forward new legislation in the consumer affairs space. I'll get to it in a moment. It can be a long time coming with other matters of importance. This bill will provide greater clarity, protections and conditions for consumers when it comes to gift cards. It's a move that will be warmly welcomed, I'm sure, by anyone fortunate enough to receive a gift card as a present.
However, when it comes to consumer affairs, I'm afraid that this is where the good news ends for the government. I note the shadow minister's second reading amendment. I want to spend some time in tonight's debate outlining for the House the government's lack of support for and failure to protect Australian consumers and the calls on the government to reinvigorate the national consumer affairs forum process to enable the much-needed reform of Australian consumer laws. All we've seen from the government so far when it comes to consumer laws is let-downs and broken promises. On the other hand, Labor understands the importance of safety and protection for consumers, which is why we, unlike the government, have dedicated a shadow minister for consumer affairs, who continues to, in my opinion, do the job the government should be doing and is leading the way in reform and ideas to support consumers while the government lets them down.
I want to spend some time speaking tonight about an area of consumer reform that I have been following closely and tens of thousands of Australians have been following closely, and that's the issue of small-amount credit contracts or, as they're better known, payday lending or the loan sharks rip-off. It's now 1,165 days since the government announced a review into the out-of-control payday loans sector, and basically that's how long this government has known there's been a problem with loan sharks. Yet the Morrison or Turnbull or Abbott government just have simply refused to shut the door on this issue. Let's be very clear: the reckless behaviour of payday lenders has gone on long enough.
I want to bring to the attention of the House tonight new data released by the Consumer Action Law Centre, which shows the number of households with a payday loan has continued to skyrocket and now sits at around 800,000. This number has more than doubled in the past decade, including 150,000 new households signing up for payday loans in the last 18 months. Why is that a critical figure? Why does that 150,000 in 18 months mean something? Because it's been a year and a half since we've been promised action and reform to crackdown on payday lenders. If the government had honoured its word, if the ministers of the day had actually followed through with the legislation, we would have seen that number reduced; instead, we've seen the number explode by 150,000.
Whilst the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government sits by and does nothing, these Australian families continue to be ripped off every day by loan sharks in this out-of-control industry. Examples of people being exploited are endless. This includes heartbreaking stories like that of the Queensland mum who was approached by a payday lender and signed up to rent a fridge on the spot. After her electronic signature was captured, she was only told how much she would pay a fortnight, $81.44. Just two weeks later the full story was revealed, with the fridge costing an astronomical $6,352 over three years. Think about it: she was promised one thing, that the goods were going to cost a couple of hundred dollars, but she was then left to pay $6,000. Families, young people and pensioners are being ripped off by loan sharks who are exploiting an industry which preys upon vulnerable people.
Payday loans are exclusively used by people who are on low or very low incomes to try and keep their heads above water, often falling into a debt cycle. This is due to the outrageous fees and interest rates of almost 900 per cent. Further recent research has shown that, over a five-year period, around 15 per cent of payday borrowers will get into a debt spiral which leads to events such as bankruptcy. On that basis, an additional 249,000 households have been allowed to enter a debt path which leads to this unfortunate end—in the last three years alone. These households are part of the three million additional loans written, worth an estimated $1.85 billion since 2016.
Parliament's now been sitting for two days. We're coming to the second day of the sitting. I have spoken on this matter already three times in the parliament this week, and so far I've spoken probably more than a dozen times about this. I would yield my time, I would sit down on the spot, if the minister would just once come in here and speak about this and update the House. In fact, I'm now at the point where I'm pleading with the minister. I've written to them; I've written to the Prime Minister. And, look, I get it. In the multitude of issues that this chaotic and dysfunctional government is dealing with—whether it be supporting white supremacy motions by administrative error, whether it be tying themselves up in knots about ripping up the two-state solution which has had bipartisan support for 70 years, whether it be as simple as working out who's responsible for what portfolio in this government—I would simply ask that this government take this issue seriously.
I don't know if I'm out of line here, but I don't think this minister has taken one question or spoken in the parliament since he's become a minister. I do know, however, that he has charged the taxpayer $38,000 to download and binge on internet services. This is the person responsible for $38,000 billed to the taxpayer. Time and time again, we're seeing this minister involved with what I could say are scandals from time to time. I understand that he's got his hands full managing his internet bills, but, when it comes to consumer protection, I'd like him to worry a little less about what his internet bill is and more about the consumers and customers that are being ripped off. As I said, in my opinion, he's nowhere to be seen when we're protecting Australian consumers from loan sharks.
I'll give this: the previous ministers responsible in this portfolio did have some interest in standing up for consumers. About three or four ministers back, Minister O'Dwyer—I lose track of the number; it's like, what do you call a gaggle of consumer ministers? What is the collective noun for that? There are so many of them. I was going to make that point, but we're seeing ministers who have said, 'We will take action to protect consumers.' We saw the draft explanatory memorandum for consumer protection around payday lending exposed, but then that was withdrawn. We've seen ministers say that legislation will become enacted, and that's been withdrawn. There has been broken promise after broken promise.
Fast forward to 2018, this year. I was really proud to introduce the government's own piece of legislation. It was, word for word, sentence for sentence, the government's exposure draft legislation in a show of bipartisanship. Not a single member of the government chose to speak on the matter, and I may be corrected, but not one member of the government since then has ever spoken about payday lending. I get it. It's not an issue that's a priority for the government. I wish it would be, because the hundreds of thousands of Australians who are being preyed upon by the loan sharks deserve this parliament's attention and action to ensure that they are protected. The cost of living has risen drastically under this government; 1.8 million households are now financially distressed and, as I mentioned earlier, 800,000 families have turned to payday loans just to get by. It's time the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government drew a line in the sand and stood up for these vulnerable Australians.
Whilst it is good to see the government taking some minor action when it comes to consumer protection and gift cards, we have an opportunity with this second reading amendment that the shadow minister has moved in the parliament to send a really clear message to the consumers of Australia that they deserve better and that this government has let them down. For those great financial counsellors out there that are helping—and I've met with many of them in my electorate and across Australia who are guiding and helping people deal with the fallout of the debt spiral that comes from dealing with loan sharks—I've launched a national campaign around this, including a web site: stoptheloansharks.com. I've issued a series of videos surrounding this, highlighting church leaders, the victims of payday lenders, some of the community organisations that have dealt with the fallout and, more importantly, the financial counsellors, who all say the same thing: unless we take action to deal with this, the problem is only going to get worse. So, whilst this small step tonight will receive bipartisan support, the bigger picture for consumer action across Australia deserves our respect and support.
