Daniel Mulino:
Good morning. It’s great to be here for a really – a big announcement that’s much more upbeat than this morning’s weather in Melbourne. Today, we’re announcing a significant step forward in Australia’s scam prevention framework. Australia’s world‑leading protection for consumers against scams. It’s really important, particularly at a time of year like Christmas, where people are engaged in so many transactions, for people to be cautious, to stop, check and protect.
This announcement today involves 3 things. Firstly, we’re announcing that we’re going to start consulting on the development of codes for 3 sectors for banks, for digital platforms, and for telecommunications companies. And those codes will set out a lot of the detail as to what it means under the legislation that was passed earlier this year for them to act with due care and responsibility.
Secondly, we’re going to consult on the designation instruments to make sure that we designate those sectors in the right way. And finally, we’re also going to be starting consultation on the external dispute resolution process that will be managed by AFCA, the independent dispute resolution agency within financial services.
So, this is a really big step forward. Scams continue to evolve as significant and really worrying actors try to take advantage of consumers. And we need to keep ensuring that our protection and regulation is fit for purpose.
Journalist:
Can you maybe run me through – so, much of our sort of scam protection is based at the consumer or, you know, members of the public. How does this differ with it being sort of towards businesses and banks, and telco companies? What’s the difference there? The shift?
Mulino:
So, we need to make sure that entities in those 3 sectors, in banks, telcos and digital platforms, that they put in place the most robust systems they can so that they protect consumers.
So, under the laws that were passed earlier this year, they have to take all reasonable steps, and there are very significant penalties, up to $50 million if they don’t do that. What these codes and rules will do is to clarify what exactly that means. It’ll set out details around how those organisations should fulfill those responsibilities.
Journalist:
And what might that look like in sort of an applicable sense? Is it them having better technologies to detect scans or to block text messages from coming through? What might those regulations require?
Mulino:
No, exactly. It’ll look at things like that. A lot of it will be based around technology, ensuring that those organisations monitor appropriately to make sure that they detect scam activity early, that they have technology to reach out to consumers.
For example, banks are now setting up large call centres to reach out to consumers to talk through transactions where they feel that there’s a red flag. So, they need to keep building on that, using technology, using AI, but also using staff who are trained appropriately. There are already a number of measures in place, but we need to ensure that government and regulators work with industry to keep building on that.
And then, of course, they need to have dispute resolution processes where they can, in a fair and timely way, hear complaints from consumers and deal with those appropriately.
Journalist:
Is this – you know, putting in penalties on these industries, is it sort of punishing the wrong guy when the scammers are really the ones who are doing a wrong thing here? Is this fair to businesses to hold them to account like this?
Mulino:
Well, look, we clearly want to deal with those perpetrating scams wherever we can. Unfortunately, a lot of the most sophisticated scammers are overseas, and it makes it very difficult to directly deal with them. But where possible, we do want to deal with those perpetrating scams. But it’s also important that regulators and that major companies in these designated sectors also do what they can to protect consumers.