Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to put the honourable member for Fisher’s mind at rest. It is true that I have often read of my own political funeral; however, I will be continuing on as the endorsed Labor candidate and hope that the good electors of Chifley will again support and encourage me in the way they have in the past. I say to the departing member just one word: merit. The Australian Labor Party have a philosophy that Australians who go to university ought to be able to get there on the basis of merit, not necessarily on the basis of how much they or their parents earn, and that we have a responsibility to ensure that that happens. If the honourable member finds difficulty with that—and I can understand why he, being a coalition member, would find that offensive and difficult to comprehend—so be it, but that is the policy we have and that is the policy that I think will attract a great deal of support at the next federal election.

Next Saturday will be the 10th annual Reconciliation Walk and Gathering in my electorate, and I would particularly like to pay tribute to two people who are no longer as directly involved as they once were but who played a significant role in the walk and gathering, and that is Father Paul Hanna, former parish priest of the Holy Family Church at Emerton, and Coral McLean, who was the Director of Education at Holy Family. The Holy Family Parish provided a home for those who were involved in the planning and putting together of the walk and gathering. It is a great day. I must confess that it took me a while not to apply my own values and judgements to it—that is, whilst we attract about 300 or 400 people, I could never understand why we did not attract more. But I have come to understand that the importance of the walk and gathering for reconciliation at Mount Druitt is the mere fact that we hold it and that we stop the traffic for half an hour as we walk around the central business district of Mount Druitt. I commend all those who in the past 10 years have been associated with the walk and gathering for reconciliation. I invite those who perhaps have never walked to come and join us and join in the walk, the fun of the day and, in particular, all the entertainment that is part and parcel of it.

A couple of my constituents—by email and one directly—have said to me: ‘What are you going to do about Fincorp? Are you going to speak up about Fincorp?’ We all know that Westpoint, another property investment company, collapsed in 2006 leaving millions of dollars owed to 4,000 investors who had put on average $90,000 in each of the businesses, investments often financed by mortgages on their home. Fincorp is just another example of the same thing. This time there are approximately 8,000 investors, two-thirds of whom are in New South Wales. Initial figures show that 7,000 secured note holders are owed about $178 million and about 1,000 unsecured note holders are owed $23 million. Twenty-one companies in the Fincorp Group under administration have an estimated deficiency of at least $100 million. This is likely to rise and could be as high as $150 million and, indeed, some commentators have suggested $300 million.

What is the Howard government doing about it? We do have an Australian Securities and Investments Commission charged with overseeing these companies. They are charged with ensuring that any breaches of corporate law are brought before the courts. But the Auditor-General in releasing a report in January this year revealed that the Howard government has allowed more than 99 per cent of complaints to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC, by external administrators to be ignored. I repeat: for every 100 complaints the organisation receive, under the Howard government 99 of them are ignored. They do not do anything. They do not investigate. They do not prosecute.

We have had a tragedy in Westpoint. We have had a tragedy in Fincorp. Are there more on the way? Mr Deputy Speaker, please do not take my word for it. Very late one evening here in Canberra I was listening to Lateline Business, and I congratulate that program. Lateline Business is not a favourite of the coalition. One program broadcast on 26 March 2007 revealed that not only have we had Westpoint with its profound losses hurting battlers, and Fincorp hurting something like double the number of battlers, but there are a further 10 companies expected to go belly up. I will repeat that. This is not me scaremongering. This is not me picking up some turgid bit of gossip. This was on Lateline Business where it said that a further 10 property investment companies are expected to go belly up.

Some members of the House may say that we cannot do much about it; it is poor management et cetera. Why then won’t the government direct the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to deal with the complaints they have? Who in government knows what the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are doing about these further 10 collapses that have been predicted? Is there any way we may be able to prevent them? Should we just sit on our hands and do nothing? This organisation comes under the Treasury portfolio, and for every 100 complaints received by or referred to the commission—not by my estimate or by the Parliamentary Library but by the Auditor-General—99 are ignored. We are not talking about millionaires playing the stock market, suffering a bit of setback and being able to recoup through their other investments. On average these investors are 60 years and older. They are investing their life savings. They are investing their superannuation into these companies. What is the government doing? This is a litmus test. Do you care about people who have invested this money?

Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don’t care about your microphone!

Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is about the only thing you do care about, unfortunately. Please do something about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. I was surprised when I was approached about it on the streets of my electorate. I can say to the honourable parliamentary secretary and member for Paterson that I am sure he has got some people in his electorate that have been burned by investing in Fincorp. We have a responsibility to say to the Treasurer: what are you doing about it? How are you directing this government commission with responsibility for investigating these matters, for ensuring corporate probity and ensuring that these companies are run properly? It should not be just a lottery where a chief executive can pay himself millions of dollars and give himself a low-interest or no interest loan and squander investors’ money or invest in unsecured notes and debentures. This is a scandal. Nothing has been done about Fincorp and we can be assured that there will be no prosecutions laid for those people who have lost their money in Fincorp. And nothing is being done to prevent those further 10 companies, as is speculated by Lateline Business and expert financial commentators, from going belly up. (Time expired)