Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020, but I should say that my heart is not in this speech. My heart—probably like the member for Griffith's, I would imagine—is outside this chamber right now, marching for justice around Parliament House. But, nevertheless, some of us do have a job to do, albeit for a short time.

Sadly, this bill removes responsible lending obligations for the majority of consumer credit contracts. Let me just remind the House that in 2009, partially in response to the global financial crisis, the Labor government introduced the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. That bill introduced a range of measures around the conduct of credit providers, including requiring them to abide by a set of responsible lending obligations. It's bizarre to think that that legislation took until 2009. These responsible lending obligations require that credit providers make reasonable inquiries about a customer and assess whether a credit product will be unsuitable for a consumer. The obligations were designed to protect the consumer, and I was very proud that Labor brought them in.

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