In the Senate today, the Coalition ensured the passage of key legislation to expand the functionality of the Consumer Data Right (CDR), an important cost of living and competition initiative.

 

During the first week back from Parliament’s winter recess, the only legislation passed has been because of a Coalition motion forcing it.

 

It took 20 long months of languishing in Parliament and the Coalition’s intervention to pass the Bill, leaving many to wonder whether the Assistant Treasurer had forgotten about his own legislation.

Even when Labor’s own legislation has unanimous support, they are still unable to pass it.

 

The Assistant Treasurer is a single-issue minister, with little interest in Australia’s digital economy or financial services sector. 

 

Stephen Jones’ myopic approach leaves colleagues to make their own duplicative announcements, like “One-Click Energy Switch”, which is a use case CDR action initiation was built for.

 

Labor’s neglect of the CDR has left the banks, energy providers and the broader CDR ecosystem in regulatory limbo.

 

On 3 July 2024, Senator Gallagher said regarding the Bill: “I’m not sure if there’s going to be an amendment moved… I’ve been advised there is some further work to do, and that makes debating this not possible… that work will need to be done, and it will need to be brought back after the winter recess.”

 

On the same day, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: “We will work methodically through those sorts of issues in a legislative sense, but also working with the various stakeholders to see if we can get it right.”

 

No further work was done. No amendment was moved. Stakeholders were left in the dark.

 

Labor’s management of its legislation is a farce, and it has taken the Coalition’s intervention to mop up their mess.

 

The Albanese Government’s silence and mismanagement of the CDR has caused uncertainty about its future.

 

The Coalition supports a proportionate regulatory approach when the Government considers its next steps, particularly for smaller and regional banks, to ensure the CDR’s future rollout can continue with certainty and in a sustainable way.

 

The Coalition remains open to sensible changes that could be brought forward to the Consumer Data Right to ensure appropriate phasing and proportionality, with certainty and accountability about forward work timelines.

 

This is why the Coalition has called for and supported the development of a Financial Services Regulatory Grid – another promised initiative which has stalled without explanation under Labor.

 

ENDS.

 

Background:

• The Consumer Data Right gives consumers and small businesses more control over their data by enabling them to access and share their data with accredited third parties to access better deals on everyday products and services.
• The Consumer Data Right has already been rolled out to banking and energy, with non-bank lending to follow as the third sector.