Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, representing the Treasurer. I refer to the Westpoint scandal in which thousands of Australians, many of whom are elderly and retired, have lost up to $400 million of their savings. Can the minister confirm that the Westpoint scandal is the largest financial scandal to hurt Australians since the collapse of HIH? Given the investment product of Westpoint entities was in the form of so-called promissory notes, can the minister explain why the Liberal government failed to regulate this type of financial product as it does all others?