Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opportunity to speak briefly on this bill is great news for the people of Braddon. The Banking Laws Amendment (Unclaimed Money) Bill 2015 will put right a huge wrong that was done under the stewardship of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan. This amendment bill tonight will bring back into play a law within the statutes that was 101 years of age when the previous Labor government decided that it was no longer necessary that inactive accounts should stay for seven years and then action would be taken. They had a desperate need for funds and decided to transfer—to put it kindly—moneys that were owned by Australians into the hands of the government.

Today we will correct that wrong. For 156,000 Australians through that period, with accounts in their banks totalling over half a billion dollars—that is $500-plus million dollars—we tonight will right that wrong and return to the statutes a bill that will ensure that people's funds are back to being inactive for seven years, but with some improvements even still. Children's accounts—those accounts that were probably amongst the most vulnerable, together with those of older Australian citizens—will now be exempt from the status of being inactive and from going across to the government coffers. This is a great addition to this law. Not only that, but there will now be provisions that will mean that, even if there have been no withdrawals or deposits, if people check their accounts online or have made an inquiry at an ATM or have called their bank over the phone or have dropped into the bank to check their balance through a teller—if in fact you can find any of those these days—then that will now signal—technologically, I suppose—that this account is not inactive. In fact, it has someone very interested in the contents of that account. To think for one moment that a national government would for one moment even contemplate taking funds from people and putting them into the government coffers is extraordinary. To actually act on that is even more extraordinary. So today we will right that wrong through this bill, and it is a welcome initiative.

I know many, many of the people of Braddon were impacted by this. As the incoming member, I learned of many people who went to their bank, saw that the closet was empty and wondered what on earth had happened. I say to those people, and to others that may be wondering whether or not in fact their money is still in the bank, that they can go online at www.moneysmart.gov.au to check up to see if what may have been an inactive account is still there or has been transferred. These people are some of our aged people who put an account aside for grandchildren. They may have put money aside for their own funeral to alleviate any financial stress on their family at the time of their passing. And what did we find? We found a government so desperate to try to make the books look better that they stooped to the lows of taking funds from ordinary Australians.

I thought the contribution in this debate by the member for Hughes was exceptional. He exposed to the parliament the six biggest bank heists in history, and this one ranked at No. 2. What a disgrace it was. It is tremendous that tonight the Abbott coalition government is rectifying this wrong, as we said we would do in the lead-up to the election. I encourage people in the electorate of Braddon to check that website, www.moneysmart.gov.au, to ensure that there are not funds put aside in government coffers that in fact belong to them. I thank the House.

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