Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thought I would have another go at the deregistration and registration scheme. Minister, I will put it simply: you have excellent computers. You can actually have all the information on the same computer. You do not need a separate list. You can simply flag the information. I am sure your computers are sufficiently modern that you can differentiate on one list, both a checked and unchecked listing, as to whether a remittance service provider is registered or deregistered.

The beauty of having a registered and deregistered list—and I will use a common example—is that you have a list of people: some ‘good’ and some ‘bad’. Your view is to put them all on the one list without differentiating them. My view is that, especially in providing this service, you could put them on one list and flag those people who were ‘bad’ people. Your view is to put them all on a list but have no way of differentiating them. I am sure that your computers are capable of providing that differentiation. You will find that agencies in Australia’s jurisdiction and also those in the jurisdictions of many other countries are struggling with this issue. If you cast your net to the UK, you will find that agencies dealing with remittance service providers in implementing FATF are having the same problem as has arisen in other jurisdictions. In fact, I will go so far as to say that, when you come back to this place with a solution, I will not be surprised if you try not to look as though you have simply picked up Labor’s amendment. That will be the more interesting thing to watch.

As you said, Minister, you have responded to most of these issues before so I will not deal with these matters any further, other than to encourage you to support them or at least to have a look at them.