Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am speaking today to speak on behalf of the victims of Peter Holt. Holt is a financial adviser and accountant who robbed the life savings of dozens of local residents in my electorate. Over the last year I have listened to the victims. I have learned of the enormous emotional and physical toll this ordeal has wrought on their lives. The victims of Peter Holt and Timbercorp were not greedy corporate investors. The victims are teachers, mechanics and small business owners—ordinary Australians just trying to do the right thing and save for their retirement. Instead, they have been failed by our financial system. They have been failed by the regulators, and many now face losing their homes. I am concerned that the Abbott government's attempt to roll back the FoFA reforms would reopen loopholes that enabled Holt to rip off hardworking Australians.

Peter Holt is supposedly bankrupt but still drives a Mercedes and still operates his business. That he does so is nothing short of a disgrace. His only punishment was a slap on the wrist—a three-year ban by ASIC. I urge the creditor, ANZ, and the liquidator, KordaMentha, to show compassion to the victims of this collapse, particularly those who are facing genuine hardship. We in this parliament have a responsibility to stand up for Australians against predators like Holt.