MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Faced with an ageing population and ballooning costs, the government has hammered out a deal with the opposition after months of backroom negotiations. The Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, joins us now from Parliament House to talk about this and also a new move to protect Australians against scams. Good morning to you, Minister.
STEPHEN JONES:
Good morning. Good to be with you.
ROWLAND:
So, why is the government moving to see some Australians who can afford it pay more for their aged care?
JONES:
This is about ensuring that Australians, older Australians have access to the care that they need, whether it’s residential care or whether it’s staying at home. These new laws, for the first time, will create a firm set of rights for people in the aged care system. It’ll lead to better food, better care, better accommodation and a more sustainable system overall. And I think it’s telling that we do have support across parliament for this. We want to ensure that we have the best quality care possible in a sustainable way. And when these laws pass through parliament, we’ll have met that objective.
ROWLAND:
How much, I guess, how close to the brink are some sections of the aged care sector, given some of the financial pressures they face?
JONES:
We already know that there are many parts of the aged care system that are under extreme pressure. Difficulty in getting staff, difficulty in meeting standards, difficulty in investing in the new beds and facilities that are required. There’s long waiting lists in most facilities around the country and a lot of that is because of the uncertainty and because we haven’t had the reforms that Minister Anika Wells introduced into the parliament last night. This has dragged on for too long. She’s introduced the reforms providing more certainty and a more sustainable setting for the long term for the aged care sector. It’s welcomed by the aged care sector themselves. They can see this is going to provide the certainty that they need, which will see new investment in new beds, new facilities, new residential aged care, better standards, better food, better care. All of that will flow as a result of this package. But just as important to that, I’ve got to say, is for the majority of Australians who actually want to stay at home, ensuring that we have a sustainable way that we can support them in that choice by providing the care that they need in a home‑based setting.
ROWLAND:
Ok, let’s move on. The government has been at odds with the big tech companies on a number of fronts, Minister, one of which has been the government’s move to try to fine the big tech companies for spreading misinformation online. That has overnight triggered blowback from Elon Musk, the owner of X, formally known as Twitter. In relation to that, he has called the Australian Government ‘fascists.’ What do you say to that?
JONES:
This is crackpot stuff. It really is crackpot stuff. This is about sovereignty and whether it’s the Australian Government, or any other government around the world, we assert our right to pass laws which will keep Australians safe, safe from scammers, safe from criminals. And for the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk, or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it’s ok to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year, publishing deep fake material, publishing child pornography, live streaming murder scenes. I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about? You can’t do that as a publisher, you can’t do that as a broadcaster and it’s absolutely absurd to say that the normal laws around defamation, the normal laws around criminal activity, the normal laws around false and misleading statements in the conduct of business, apply everywhere except on the internet. That’s absurd.
ROWLAND:
Does this simply encourage the government to continue, in fact, double down in the wake of, as you say, in your words, crackpot responses from the likes of Elon Musk?
JONES:
Look, I don’t think most Australians pay much attention to those sort of batty comments that Elon Musk or anyone else make. They expect the Australian Government to keep Australians safe, whether it’s online, in shopping malls, in the community. They expect the Australian Government to pass laws to ensure that we’re keeping them and their money and their information safe. And that’s what we’re determined to do.
ROWLAND:
You mentioned scams. Let’s talk about the government’s renewed move to protect as many Australians as possible from scams, including putting the big banks potentially in the gun for not doing enough to protect their customers from scammers.
JONES:
Yeah look, this is a major uplift in our protections for Australians against scammers. This is a part – the next phase in our war against the scammers. We’ve already stood up a National Anti‑Scam Centre. We’re already taking down fake investment sites and filtering out millions and millions of messages and phone calls every week. And it’s working. It’s meant, for the first time ever, that Australian scam losses haven’t doubled. Only country in the world where that has occurred. But we’re still losing $2.75 billion a year and that’s far too much. Every dollar is a tragedy.
So, the new laws that I’ve published today, out for consultation for 3 weeks before we introduce them back into parliament this year, tough new obligations on banks, on telecommunications companies, on social media companies to prevent, to detect, to disrupt and to report and to respond to scam content within their businesses. It’s a taking an ecosystem approach which expects individuals to take some responsibilities. But the banks, the telcos, the social media platforms, which are the ecosystems in which this scam content is distributed to Australians, a significant uplift will be required to keep Australians, their information and their money safe. And if they don’t meet those obligations, then, yes, compensation will flow, not just on the banks. If the telcos have done the wrong thing, they’ll be in the gun. If the social media platforms have done the wrong thing, then they’re in the frame as well. And that’s a fair and balanced system with avenues for Australians to seek redress through external dispute resolution processes and a tribunal for them to go to, to enable them to recover losses if they’ve lost money because of the failure of one of those businesses to meet their obligations under the new laws.
ROWLAND:
Stephen Jones, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
JONES:
Good to be with you.