I rise to offer my strenuous support to this Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024. It's a really crucial piece of legislation that will safeguard Australians against the growing threat of scams. It's a bit of a pity the Greens' member for Griffith is leaving the chamber now, because I can tell you that the 120,000 people I represent in the City of Newcastle are extremely thankful to have a government that is taking this seriously and putting forward the world's first and strongest piece of legislation in order to deal with what has been despicable behaviour causing untold pain and suffering for many, many thousands of Australian people. How do we know this? Because we all talk to our communities. I will come to that in a moment.

The current scam protections are clearly piecemeal, and they are inconsistent across our economy, which means that consumers, the people that we represent, do not have the protections they need and deserve. They are also stymied by the responses across different kinds of industry providers.

Scams, we know, are a pervasive threat in our society. They take on many forms, from an email or phone call that promises a windfall but in fact ends with the loss of your hard earned life savings, to the complex financial schemes that prey on the elderly, those that are in distress—the very people that we know are most vulnerable. Scammers are also becoming increasingly sophisticated in their operations. They're using technology and, indeed, psychological manipulation to exploit their victims. As we know, scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the tactics that they deploy as well. We need to be much better at coordinating our efforts to stop them.

I want to highlight upfront the real human cost to the scamming industry, which has really threatened so many Australians now. Over the last couple of years, I, like all my Labor colleagues, have been hosting scam information forums in our communities. Indeed, the minister has attended some of these in my electorate and in other electorates across Australia, because we know how devastating the impact is, whether it's an investment scam—I've had devastating stories from people in my electorate who have lost their life savings. Imagine how you feel at retirement losing everything you had put aside. We've got people who have fallen prey to romance scams. They are especially vulnerable people in that they are usually too embarrassed to come forward. They're ashamed. They feel like they've fallen for something, but I say to those people—indeed, all people who feel like they cannot come forward to report these scams—please know that you are one of many. You are not alone. You are not a mug. You haven't been hoodwinked, because these people are highly sophisticated criminals that are now so manipulative and know so much about your personal information and data that you think they are absolutely ridgy-didge when they speak to you on the phone or send you those emails.

I say to Novocastrians again and again: there is help. It's not good enough now, but this bill, which I will come back to now, is going to help enormously. That is why this House collectively should support this legislation before the Australian parliament today.

The Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024 being introduced is, as I mentioned, world-leading legislation. It is also central to this government's broader agenda on consumer protections. If I've got time, I will try to come back to that broader agenda as well. It is this framework which is an economy-wide reform to protect consumers from scams by requiring the private sector to adhere to consistent principles based obligations and strong, tailored industry codes that are enforceable. At its core, this bill seeks to create a national coordinated framework that brings together multiple sectors, including government agencies and financial institutions, the telecommunications providers and the consumer protection groups, to address scams in a unified manner. We're not picking off one sector from another; we understand this requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-community approach. We are bringing people together, not trying to divide them up. It recognises that an ecosystems approach is required to reduce the gaps, which we know are exploited by the scammers. We can't afford to have people splintered off and not on board with this bill. If we're genuine about delivering strong consumer protection to our consumers, the very people we represent in this parliament, then we need everybody on board.

I urge all parties—it doesn't matter if you're sitting on the crossbench or on the opposition bench—to get on board. It's important to understand that this is not just a legal initiative. We are making law here, absolutely, and that is our job, but it is also a comprehensive commitment to protecting individuals and businesses from the devastating impacts of scams. We're not just a bunch of lawmakers here; we are also ensuring that we are part of a comprehensive commitment to the Australian people about protecting them and protecting those small businesses that are also caught up in this dreadful scam industry.

We know that this is a really big challenge in our digital age. It's an acknowledgement that in today's interconnected world we must work together to prevent and respond to scams effectively.

There's no secret that scams are on the rise in Australia. Any member of parliament would know that from their communications with their constituents. We know that with technological advancements the internet has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. However, as our lives have moved online more and more, so too have the perpetrators of these scams. We know they are absolutely in that space; they are increasingly sophisticated, as I mentioned earlier; they are ruthlessly deceptive; and they are unrelenting in their pursuits. In 2023 alone, Australians lost more than $2.7 billion to scams. That is a terrifying figure. I know it's pretty hard to imagine what billions of dollars looks like or feels like. Perhaps it might be easier to reframe that: Australians are losing an average of $7 million every day to criminal scams. That's the size of the problem we seek to deal with today.

It is more than just an economic expense, as I tried to put forward at the beginning of this discussion. This has profound psychological and emotional impacts for our constituents as well. There is such a significant human cost here that the government's trying to tackle as well. From identity theft to phishing and from fraudulent investment schemes to romance scams, no-one is immune. Scams are not just financial losses, as I said. They result in this profound distress for people, destroying relationships, ripping families apart and leaving long-lasting scars on the lives of individuals and all of their families. It's even more alarming that scams increasingly target the most vulnerable members of our community—the elderly, people who are experiencing financial hardship and even young people who are just less experienced at spotting the threats. This leaves many people, as I mentioned, exposed and vulnerable to manipulation and deception at the hands of what we now know are often organised criminal syndicates. These are not just rogue operators; these are very sophisticated, highly organised criminal syndicates that are out to exploit.

This bill is designed to address head-on the issues that I have mapped out by introducing this comprehensive framework that will prevent, detect and combat scams in our country. I know I'm going to run out of time for a lot of the detail of the bill, and I appreciate many of my colleagues having gone through that previously, but I cannot stress enough the importance of strengthening the regulatory environment. This is a bill that has undergone a lot of consultation, and it is now incumbent on this parliament to provide passage of this legislation so that we can really start swinging into action on this issue. We shouldn't be waiting another single day to get this through this House. We want to be very proactive about consumer protection in Australia, and we want to be proactive about the education that we should be providing to consumers now.
One of the key aspects of this bill is its focus on consumer education, and I really commend the minister and the government for ensuring this is a part of the bill. It recognises that scams cannot be fought through regulation and law-making alone. We need all our citizens to understand the threats and the ways to best protect themselves, and we need a whole-of-government, whole-of-community approach. We must make sure that Australians are informed, aware and equipped to protect themselves from the ever-evolving range of fraudulent activities. This bill mandates the creation of a national public awareness campaign that will run across multiple channels, and that's important because we know people are getting their information through all sorts of different means now. The campaign will educate people on how to recognise the warning signs of scams, how to protect their personal information and what steps to take if they suspect they have been targeted.

Currently the Albanese Labor government is running the 'fighting scams' awareness campaign. That's already out there, trying to equip Australians with tools to protect themselves. The campaign is running on TV and online ads using three very simple but memorable steps to empower Australians to identify these sophisticated scam tactics. I want to briefly put those on the record. The three critical steps are as follows: firstly, stop. Stop right now and think about whether or not you should be sharing your personal information. That's the first question you should ask yourself. Secondly, check. Do you know who you are dealing with? The third step is to protect—protecting yourself against the scams by reporting them to the scamwatch.gov.au body. This public information and awareness campaign complements work being led by the National Anti-Scam Centre, and, under this bill, these types of advertisements will be supported by easy-to-access resources where Australians can report scams and receive guidance on how to handle suspicious activities.

I know, like most members on this side of the House, who have been running our scam information forums in our electorates—I've had the minister at one of mine as well—that trying to make sure we inform our constituencies about ways to best protect them is absolutely critical. We do have information available at our electorate offices. We do have a national anti-scam centre on our side. We'll be enhancing enforcements and penalties through this legislation, which will hopefully be passed in the House today. This is about building a safer, more secure environment for all Australians. It will complement a lot of work that Labor has already done to try and improve our privacy laws and our consumer protection laws to really make Australians as safe and protected from this evil scam industry as possible.