Transcript – Interview with Oliver Peterson, 6PR Afternoons

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21 June 2024 Topics: Perth Mint Senate Inquiry report E&OE OLIVER PETERSON: There has subsequently been an inquiry conducted by the Select Committee on the Perth Mint, and a WA Liberal Senator, Dean Smith is the chair of that committee. He’s just released a scathing report into the failures of the mint, and he can tell you more. Senator, good afternoon. DEAN SMITH: Good afternoon to you, Ollie. OLIVER PETERSON: There are a lot of compliance breaches that you uncovered in your inquiry, Senator Smith, that we may have not known about before. DEAN SMITH: It’s interesting you say that, Ollie, because during the inquiry, a significant development took place. And that is that AUSTRAC, which is the federal financial crime regulator, issued what’s called an enforceable undertaking over the Perth Mint that took place in December last year. That enforceable undertaking means that the Perth Mint is under the sort of the careful watch, if you like, of AUSTRAC and having to provide regular monthly reporting back to AUSTRAC to make sure that it’s not only meeting compliance with our anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, but also fulfilling its remediation programs. So, what does this mean? It means that there still exists potential financial liabilities across the WA Government for which the WA taxpayer will be responsible, as seen in the report’s findings and conclusions today. And this is a report that has been supported, it’s conclusions have been supported by the Australian Greens and Coalition Senators. So, it’s far from a political inquiry. This is a broad inquiry that enjoys multi-partisan support, particularly around the recommendations. What we’re saying is that it’s time for the Perth Mint Board to accept responsibility. They have been trying to say that this is just a responsibility of the previous senior management. We said that is not good enough, Ollie, because it’s a Senate inquiry, it does have tremendous powers. We were able to see a number of documents that I can’t reveal to you and your listeners in terms of what they said. But there’s one document in particular, the 2020 internal audit report, that we’re of the strong view should be put before the WA Parliament so that the WA Parliament can see for itself some of the significant compliance failings that led to that enforceable undertaking. So unfortunately, WA taxpayers, the financial liability still sits over their head until this matter is resolved. The enforceable undertaking exists until the 30th of April, 2025. That’s assuming that the Perth Mint does actually meet all of its compliance obligations. I think it’s important to remember Ollie that, you know, why was it that the Australian Senate was forced to do this inquiry and not the WA Parliament? And your listeners might remember that then Premier Martin McGowan refused to give the WA Parliament the opportunity of having its own inquiry. So Senator Reynolds, Senator Brockman and Senator Cox, and myself, set up the Senate inquiry because we didn’t believe that these Perth Mint matters should go un-inquired. Because the Perth Mint, this is an important WA institution. It’s an institution that has tourism importance, but also has an important financial value to the state. And we would expect that it enjoys the highest level of governance and as a result of that, the highest level of public confidence. OLIVER PETERSON: Now you got a lack of cooperation from the WA Government, Ministers, and former Premier Mark McGowan, who back in March of last year in Parliament on a hot mic described the Perth Mint scandal as a storm in an effing teacup, Senator Smith? DEAN SMITH: Mark McGowan is wrong on that. And if the former Premier had been right, if there was nothing to see here, then AUSTRAC would not have put an enforceable undertaking over the Perth Mint in the way that it did in December last year. The inquiry politely asked the former Premier on three separate occasions to come and answer questions and he didn’t even do us the courtesy of a response. And why did we want to hear from Mark McGowan? Because, at critical times in this, he was the responsible Minister, because the Perth Mint, the Gold corporation, is a WA owned entity. So, very disappointing. West Australian taxpayers have got good reason to ask, what is it that the WA Government is hiding from? And if they don’t think they’re hiding from anything, then put that 2020 internal audit report before the WA Parliament and empower the WA Parliament to have its own inquiry. OLIVER PETERSON: Because you think that’s necessary? That the public has a right to know, Senator Smith? DEAN SMITH: The public absolutely has a right to know, because this is an important WA and national institution. But more than that, Ollie, because this enforceable undertaking sits over the Perth Mint. And this enforceable undertaking is just one of four enforceable undertakings AUSTRAC issued last year. In the case of Westpac, which was found to be in breach of similar issues as the Perth Mint, that fine to Westpac was in the order of one and a half billion dollars. So the failure of the Perth Mint to meet its compliance obligations under the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws means that there is a potential liability to West Australian taxpayers at this moment. I’m pleased that West Australian Senators with common sense in our national Senate thought it necessary to have an inquiry that reported today. And we hope the WA Parliament takes a very close look at this. OLIVER PETERSON: Senator, thanks you time. DEAN SMITH: A pleasure. Thanks Ollie. ENDS

Transcript – Interview with Jo Trilling, ABC Perth Drive

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21 June 2024 Topics: Perth Mint Senate Inquiry report E&OE JO TRILLING: (AUDIO GRAB PLAYED) Well off the back of all these accusations, WA Liberal Senator Dean Smith established a committee to report into the Mint and its compliance with a range of Commonwealth laws and regulations. Today, that inquiry released its final report. So, what have they recommended? Senator Dean Smith is here to explain. Welcome back to Drive, Senator. DEAN SMITH: Good afternoon to you and your listeners. JO TRILLING: So, your first two recommendations are for the board of Perth Mint to publicly acknowledge they failed to comply with Anti-money laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act of 2006 and then publish a clear statement explaining why. Dean, why is that acknowledgement so important to you? DEAN SMITH: It’s important just to remind your listeners why it is that the Senate decided to initiate its own inquiry into compliance, specifically with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. And that was primarily because the West Australian Government denied the WA Parliament its own independent review and inquiry mechanism. So West Australian Senators thought it necessary, given that these were Commonwealth laws that had been breached, that some level of transparency needed to be brought over these matters. Also, during the course of the inquiry, AUSTRAC, which is the financial intelligence regulator in Australia, responsible for protecting institutions like the Perth Mint, issued an enforceable undertaking over the Perth Mint. That enforceable undertaking requires the Perth Mint to report very regularly to AUSTRAC on remediation programmes that it now has in place to comply with Commonwealth laws. This is a very significant event that occurred by AUSTRAC in December of last year, when the enforceable undertaking was put in place, because it also puts in place a potential financial liability to West Australian taxpayers. So we’ve had the inquiry, we’ve come to a very clear conclusion that there are still many questions that need to be answered. The board, we believe, should be required to make a detailed statement to the West Australian Parliament and to the taxpayers in terms of what were the series of events that led to this enforceable undertaking. And I would just add this point because I think it’s an important point. The Senate committee had an opportunity to inquire into and read for itself various internal audit reports. Those audit reports were provided to the Senate committee on a confidential basis, so we’re not able to talk about what they said. But we have decided in our committee report that it’s important that one of those internal audit reports, the 2020 internal audit report, be tabled before the WA Parliament so the Parliament can see for itself those compliance failings that led to the enforceable undertaking. JO TRILLING: Now, Senator, asking them to publish this statement is one thing. Do you expect them to actually follow through and do it? DEAN SMITH: It is the 125th anniversary this week. You’re quite right to point that out. I think that the Gold Corporation, trading as the Perth Mint, is very, very important institution for our country and for Western Australia. And I would like to think that the board and Mr Walsh, in particular, would understand that full transparency to the WA Parliament is a great way of ensuring that the Mint continues with a strong and credible reputation for another 125 years. JO TRILLING: And you were left disappointed by the fact that former Premier Mark McGowan didn’t appear before the inquiry? What would you have liked to have asked him? DEAN SMITH: I would like to have asked Mr McGowan to what extent was he aware of the findings contained in the 2020 internal audit report. A very simple but very important question. And I think the West Australian Parliament does deserve the opportunity to conduct its own inquiry to satisfy itself, in addition to the work that the Senate’s been forced to do because the WA Labor Government used its mega parliamentary majority to deny what I would regard as an appropriate, necessary level of inquiry over the Perth Mint matters. JO TRILLING: Senator Dean Smith, what more could the State Parliament, through their own inquiry, discover that your committee hasn’t? Is that excessive? DEAN SMITH: It is absolutely not excessive when we consider the fact that the enforceable undertaking issued by AUSTRAC – and AUSTRAC has only issued three other enforceable undertakings in the calendar year of 2023 – is an enforceable undertaking like the one over institutions like Westpac and, for similar failure to comply with matters like the Perth Mint, AUSTRAC levied a fine against Westpac of $1.5 billion. So, the West Australian Parliament not just has a responsibility, it has a duty. And the WA Government should not stand in its way to make sure that enforceable undertaking doesn’t lead to financial penalties being put over the West Australian taxpayer. I think actually the WA inquiry is more necessary now as a result of the Senate’s work, not less. JO TRILLING: And you feel that the State Government has really sort of downplayed the breaches. DEAN SMITH: Absolutely. There is no question about it that the West Australian State Government, first under Premier McGowan and now under Premier Cook, is hoping that these issues would just go away. And it’s a fundamental point that your listeners appreciate, I believe, that is that this enforceable undertaking is a very serious matter. Yes, Gold Corporation is complying with it to date. And that is the evidence that we heard from as AUSTRAC as recently as this week. But that enforceable undertaking sits over the Gold Corp until the 30th of April next year. So for Premier Cook and for former Premier McGowan this matter is far from concluded. JO TRILLING: Senator, thanks for your time. DEAN SMITH: It’s a pleasure. ENDS

Media Release – ABS data confirms WA’s record housing pain

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SENATOR DEAN SMITH SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA MEDIA RELEASE 10 June 2024 ABS DATA CONFIRMS WA’S RECORD HOUSING PAIN   WA is again breaking property records for all the wrong reasons, with average home loans reaching new highs and piling unprecedented pressure on aspiring homebuyers. New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reveals the average home loan in WA is now $537,913 – the highest since published ABS data began. It is a significant rise from the $475,405 average in September 2023, a jump of $62,508 over just 8 months. Based on the average loan amount of $537,913, assuming a 30 year loan at an interest rate of 6.22%, this translates to repayments of $ 3,302 per month. That is an increase of $384 per month since September 2023 – or 13.5%. It mirrors REIWA data showing that Perth house prices grew by three times the national rate in April 2024, up by $78,000 since January last year. The latest property prediction by Oxford Economics Australia is that the median price of a home in Perth will rise to over $1 million within three years. This week’s ABS data also reveals investor loans in WA rose by 37% between September last year to reach $1.1 billion in April 2024. Again, this is at the highest level since published ABS records became available. 75% of all investor lending in WA during April 2024 was directed towards buying established homes, putting them in direct competition with local owner occupiers. Many are interstate investors and in a stronger financial position to outbid local WA buyers because East Coast property values and levels of equity are higher than in in the West. In fact, interstate property buyers overall now account for one quarter of all online searches for WA property, mostly directed at lower priced properties given they offer higher rental yields than those in larger cities like Sydney. Over the last year, the biggest increases in property prices have been in the more affordable areas of Perth, with prices in Armadale surging by 31.6%. Kwinana (+28.6%) and Rockingham (+ 27.9 %). Compounding the situation is another record – the Albanese Government’s unmodelled immigration boom, which has seen WA growing at a faster rate than any other state or territory. The result is an acute shortage of established housing and the reality that low income earners, in particular will increasingly be unable to buy a home in Perth. Comments attributable to Senator Dean Smith: “At the election, Anthony Albanese promised he would stand up for WA, but instead he is punishing first homebuyers and mortgagees with crippling interest rates because he has failed to bring down inflation. “Month on month, it becomes harder for homeowners to make their dreams a reality in WA – for some it is now virtually impossible”. “While the current market benefits some investors, these record ABS numbers confirm the situation facing hundreds of thousands of Western Australians who just want somewhere to live. “Labor has an obligation to boost housing supply urgently, but, in the meantime, poor policy like Anthony Albanese’s unmodelled immigration has made a bad situation worse. “In the meantime, the Albanese Government’s spending is pushing up inflation and – as the RBA Governor confirmed this week – risks increased interest rates at any time. “Many WA households are already in a vulnerable position and could be forced over the edge if there are further rate rises by the RBA, which continues to do the Government’s heavy lifting for it. “These are the hard facts of two years and three budgets under Labor.” ENDS  

Opinion Piece – Beware a Labor PM bearing a plan to save the economy – The West Australian

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Last month, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers stood in front of the Australian people to deliver his “plan” to bring down inflation. But if there’s one thing the past two years have taught us, it’s not to trust a Labor Government with a plan. Remember PM Anthony Albanese’s plan to build more than 40,000 affordable homes? How about Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s plan to reduce energy bills by $275? I call it Labor’s First Law of Economics: any part of the economy they plan to improve only gets worse. In delivering his third Budget, Dr Chalmers said Labor’s economic plan would take three-quarters of a percentage point from inflation this year, and another half of a percentage point next year. “Treasury is now forecasting inflation could return to target earlier, perhaps even by the end of the year,” Dr Chalmers said. There was just one problem with Labor’s plan: reality. As soon as the Budget was delivered, economists warned rather than bringing down inflation, Dr Chalmers had inflamed it. Not that you needed to be a professional economist to see record government spending, record taxation and record net overseas immigration would create one of the worst inflation crises this country has seen. On cue, inflation rose to 3.8 per cent a far worse figure than in the UK, US and much of Europe. Under Dr Chalmers, government spending has reached 27.6 per cent of GDP, exceeding even pandemic-era spending, and still going up. Much of this spending has been frivolous when constraint, for the sake of households, was needed. Travelling across the country, I’ve yet to meet an Australian who thinks we need an extra 30,000 bureaucrats in Canberra, or it was prudent to spend nearly $500 million on the Voice to Parliament campaign. We can throw in the $40m of your money Dr Chalmers is spending to sell you his broken promise over stage three tax cuts. As a result of surging inflation, the Reserve Bank of Australia who, unlike the Treasurer, has to deal with reality confirmed during Budget Estimates what Australians were fearing: a 13th rate rise is on the cards. The cost of Dr Chalmers’ plan has, as always, fallen on Australian households. Australians now pay 62 per cent more on their mortgages than before the election. In WA, we’re cumulatively spending an extra $1 billion per year on mortgage repayments. It’s $1b not being spent in hospitality, entertainment even medical care and school fees. That’s some plan. Last month, along with “moderating inflation”, Dr Chalmers championed Labor’s plan for increasing wages and “expanding business investment”. Again, that pesky obstacle reality got in the way. In the same week, it was confirmed inflation had gone up, not down. National Accounts data revealed the economy had contracted for five consecutive quarters and had entered a per-capita recession. This means, per person, the economy is shrinking. The figures showed how personal savings (down 9.9 per cent), disposable income (down 7.8 per cent) and productivity (down 7.8 per cent) have collapsed. Independent economist Chris Richardson put it better than most when he said: “There is pain leaking out of every number in these accounts.” Business investment, instead of expanding, has been decimated. ASIC data shows that in WA, Australia’s economic powerhouse, business insolvencies are double what they were last year. Just this week, the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman said 43 per cent of businesses had not made a profit last year, while calls to the Ombudsman’s helpline had risen 20 per cent. Instead of responding to reality, Dr Chalmers is blaming it. In response to the alarming figures revealed this week, he said the “primary reason” for Australia’s economic stagnation was the RBA, rather than his own policies. It’s a long way from his confidence of last month, when he told the nation only Labor could be trusted with “an economic plan where growth and opportunity go together”. On behalf of the country, I have a simple request for Dr Chalmers and Labor: please, no more plans.

Media Release – Labor hides critical Productivity Commission report

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SENATOR DEAN SMITH SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA MEDIA RELEASE  5 June 2024 LABOR HIDES CRITICAL PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION REPORT The Albanese Government is hiding a report expected to shape the future of religious charities and private and public schools – leaving them and their communities in limbo. Under questioning from Senator Dean Smith in Budget Estimates, Productivity Commission officials revealed the report on overhauling Australia’s DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) regime was handed to the Government on 10 May. This means it has been with Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh for nearly a month, while anxious organisations await news of their fate. The report is expected to reflect an earlier draft, recommendations of which included slashing the DGR status of religious charities and school building funds. Officials confirmed that the report must be released within 25 sitting days, a date in mid-August, but Senator Smith urged Labor to make it public immediately. “I have been meeting with organisations who expect to be impacted by these changes – so has Andrew Leigh, so he knows precisely how distressed they are,” Senator Smith said. “It makes Labor keeping them waiting even more unacceptable. “Andrew Leigh should release the report now and, while he’s at it, commit the Albanese Government to rejecting any recommendations that jeopardise giving to religious charities and school building funds.” It was also uncovered that the Productivity Commission has not modelled the effect of the proposed DGR changes. As a result, there is no way of knowing if it will – or can – achieve its aim of increasing charitable giving in Australia. There is also no way of knowing the scale of the damage it might do. Senator Smith said it cast further doubt on the Albanese Government’s ability to achieve its target of doubling philanthropic giving by 2030. “The work religious charities are doing is more needed than ever in Labor’s cost of living crisis and the Government’s reward is to consider denying them charitable status in favour of groups it prefers ideologically,” he said. “And Labor’s approach makes no sense. “You cannot hope to double giving if you remove the incentive for donating to some of the country’s most established charities.” ENDS

Opinion Piece – Fears among Jewish community as Anti-Semitism on the march – The West Australian

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There is a great fear among the Australian Jewish community that, not for the first time in history, they stand at the edge of a precipice. On one side, the security of tolerance and an understanding of the evil of anti-Semitism, and on the other, the dangerous abyss of ignorance and racial hatred. For weeks, Australian universities have been overrun by anti-Israel encampments, where chants of “intifada” and “from the river to the sea” have transformed places of learning into centres of fear. Anti-Semitism is on the march in Australian cities, whether it be anti-Semitic chants on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in October or the alleged targeting of an 84-year-old Jewish woman in Melbourne, who said she was poked and called a “Zionist pig” at a recent Never Again is Now event. It remains one of the most perplexing and disturbing consequences of the October 7 attack that the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust has led not to an outbreak of sympathy for the victims but the opposite. In these dark times, Jewish Australians are taking measures they had never dreamt would be necessary in this country. Jewish students are not attending lectures, Jewish schools are hiring extra security, and Jewish parents are having conversations with their children about what to do if they are abused or even assaulted. The words of the great-grandmother harassed in Melbourne, who said she “can’t believe this is the Australia I grew up in,” captures the distress felt across her community, and in particular those who lived through the Holocaust. Adding to this distress is a sense of confusion: why is it acceptable to treat Jewish Australians in a way that would be unacceptable if it were any other minority group? This confusion was articulated by the president of the Perth Hebrew Congregation, Michael Levitt, in this newspaper. “We all know that similar public displays of hatred directed at Indigenous Australians, people of colour more broadly, homosexuals, Muslims, transgender people, foreign students — almost any subset of Australian society other than Jews, whether on our streets or on campuses — would be condemned and closed down speedily, and with firm intent,” he wrote. When any community in our country feels under threat, they should be able to look to their political leaders for moral clarity and guidance. Worryingly, Australia’s Jewish community felt abandoned by Labor at the time their public support should have been the Government’s first priority. For evidence of this, we need only look at the events of the past week. When the International Criminal Court sought the arrest warrant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas’ leadership, they were met with a clear rebuke by the political leadership of our closest allies. US President Joe Biden labelled the ICC’s decision as “outrageous” and confirmed his view that there is “no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas”. Opposition Peter Dutton described the decision as “repugnant” and an act of anti-Semitism. The most Anthony Albanese could bring himself to say was that he didn’t comment on court proceedings — a weak response from a Prime Minister who, before the last election, promised that “Australia needs leaders who show up and then step up”. Just this month, Labor Senator Fatima Payman accused Israel of genocide in the Senate and repeated the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Anyone in possession of a map can see that the “liberation” of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is itself an incitement to genocide, as it could only be brought about by the destruction of the state of Israel. Clearly, Anthony Albanese doesn’t think it’s a problem if a member of his own political party thinks this is a desirable outcome, as he is yet even to reprimand Senator Payman. Nor has he formally reprimanded Ged Kearney, a member of his own front bench, for publicly supporting Senator Payman. In an attempt to break this cycle of fear, Peter Dutton and Liberal Senator for Victoria, Sarah Henderson, wrote to Mr Albanese seeking a judicial or Senate inquiry into antisemitism on campuses. But Labor, it seems, is reluctant to support any inquiry focussed only on anti-Semitism. Time and time again, at moments when the country needed moral leadership, Anthony Albanese has been sly and equivocating. As a result, anti-Semitism has a foot in the door in Australia. While Anthony Albanese continues to shy away from responsibility on this critical issue, which goes to the heart of Australia’s multicultural character, he could do worse than reflect on the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In his 1987 acceptance speech, Wiesel said: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” He went on to say: “Action is the only remedy to indifference: the most insidious danger of all.” On behalf of the country, it’s time for Anthony Albanese to get off the fence.

Opinion Piece – Migrant boom’s housing bust – The West Australian

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Anthony Albanese is learning the hard way that it’s much easier to promise people the world than deliver practical outcomes. Despite pledging to reduce power bills by $275, Labor’s policies have caused them to increase by 30 per cent on the east coast since May 2022. Anthony Albanese swore to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart “in full” but his referendum was rejected by a sweeping majority in every Australian State after he refused to explain how it was going to work, what it would do, and how much it would cost. These hollow promises, to which we could add cheaper mortgages and more affordable homes, go a long way to explaining the recent nosedive in support for Labor in WA. But what Anthony Albanese didn’t say before the last election is starting to discredit him in the eyes of voters just as much as what he did. Namely, overseeing the biggest influx of immigrants this country has seen since the end of World War II. Last week’s Australian Bureau of Statistics data confirmed that is exactly what has happened on Labor’s watch. And its impact is totally unmodeled. For WA, which has now recorded the fastest-growing population in the country for four consecutive quarters, the ramifications of this are being more widely felt than any of Anthony Albanese’s policies. According to the ABS, net overseas immigration to Australia soared to 548,000 arrivals in the 12 months to September last year, the most recent reporting period. WA’s population grew to more than 2.9 million people and on current projections will exceed 3 million people by Christmas of next year — quite possibly sooner — with our annual growth rate of 3.3 per cent outstripping east coast capitals significantly. The ABS data sets, released every three months, show that WA’s population has now grown at a faster rate than any other capital city since December 2022, beginning at a 2.3 per cent growth rate. These record immigration levels have been a godsend for Jim Chalmers and Labor, as they remain the only thing keeping the national economy from entering a technical recession. For the rest of the country, however, it’s a very different story. Take housing, for example. The median price to rent a home in Perth is now a record $640 a week, up from $520 a week in December 2022. It’s a result of Perth having the most restricted rental vacancy market in the country at a crippling 0.4 per cent. The problem of finding a home has been so severe that we have seen press reports in recent weeks of Perth real estate agents leasing out rooms in empty homes for as much as $450 per week, and people paying $120 a night to sleep in someone’s backyard through Airbnb. And while WA might be copping the brunt of it, the housing crisis is well and truly a national problem. Despite the 900,000 permanent and long-term overseas arrivals who entered the country between July 2022 and December 2023, only around 265,000 new homes were built, meaning immigration is outstripping the supply of new dwellings by almost four-to-one. Thanks to an economy saddled with planning bottlenecks and Labor’s pipeline of green infrastructure projects, approvals for new homes across the country are at their lowest level in 12 years. Median house prices are at record levels in three of Australia’s capital cities, including Perth at $660,000. Anthony Albanese’s solution to this urgently pressing concern, Labor’s Help to Buy Scheme, has been treated like an afterthought. Nearly two years since Labor was elected, the legislation is still being debated in Parliament. And, unlike the Coalition’s policy of allowing first home buyers to access their super to get a foot on the property ladder, Labor’s policy will at best apply to no more than 10,000 people each year. The Help to Buy Scheme’s restrictions, such as cutting off eligibility to people with an income of more than $90,000, and capping eligible homes to roughly half the average house price in cities such as Sydney, means the policy is shuffling deck chairs as the Titanic sinks. On Labor’s own projections, it will only help 40,000 people at most over four years — that’s if it ever gets legislated. As a proud WA Senator, and long term supporter of planned immigration, I begrudge none of the nearly 100,000 people who have decided to call WA home in the past 12 months. Our country, and our State, one of the best places in the world. But unplanned, unmodeled and, most importantly, unasked-for immigration policy on this scale will only bring a loss of support for immigration, a phenomenon we are witnessing in many parts of the world. For the most successful multicultural country on earth, such an outcome would be a tragedy. And Anthony Albanese needs to remember that his first priority is to Australians, who he will have failed if he risks — as he is currently — preventing an entire generation of working Australians from owning their own home.

Transcript – Interview with Nadia Mitsopoulos, ABC Radio Perth

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2 March 2024 Topics: Armaguard, ACCC, Regional Banking Inquiry E&OE   Nadia Mitsopoulos Dean Smith is a WA Liberal Senator. He has some questions to ask about this in parliament. Senator, good morning.   Dean Smith Good morning to you Nadia.   Nadia Mitsopoulos How do you see the situation that Armaguard is in now?   Dean Smith Well, I suspect we’re at the beginning and not the end of this issue. I think it is important to reassure West Australians, your listeners, that it’s the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that there must be cash in the Australian economy and there must be access to that cash. So, people do not need to sort of unnecessarily worry that there might be restrictions on the availability of cash at post offices or at Coles or Woolworths or at the local ATM. But there are a couple of issues to be answered here. Armaguard and Prosegur, which is the other merger partner, went to the ACCC in 2022 asking for special permission to merge together in what we call cash in transit services.   The ACCC gave them that special approval as a special authorisation because as you have identified, it created a monopoly service provider in this new merged entity. Part of the ACCC’s process was to forensically examine whether or not the financial viability of this merged entity could be met and sustained. And on the basis of that, the ACCC gave permission for the merged entity to operate. And very shortly after that, the merged entity then put up their hand and said things are much more severe than we thought they were. We can’t run the business with a viable financial structure. And then went to Coles and the supermarkets and banks and others looking for a very significant cash injection originally of $190 million over three years to make the entity viable.   So, for me, a couple of important questions: Why did the ACCC find it necessary to allow the merge structure to exist given the necessary authorisations? If we are going to find ourselves in a situation where we did last week where there was a risk to cash delivery services in the economy?   Nadia Mitsopoulos At the time that permission was given, did you accept the reasoning that the ACCC was given giving and the reassurances?   Dean Smith Yes, in February of this year at the Senate estimates, I had the opportunity to ask the governor of the Reserve Bank, but also the ACCC chair, whether or not this merger proposal was properly founded in the ACCC’s merger process. They reassured me that they had gone through all the necessary due diligence and satisfied themselves that the new entity would be viable. But that doesn’t make sense now, because we know that last week Lindsey Fox made a personal injection of $10 million.  That’s after he asked others to make a $26 million injection.   Nadia Mitsopoulos Which he then rejected.   Dean Smith Which he then rejected because, because the banks and Coles and Woolies and others asked to see Armaguard’s books   Nadia Mitsopoulos And he said no.   Dean Smith And he said no.   Nadia Mitsopoulos So, what do you read into that?       Dean Smith I think that there is something going on here that deserves much greater scrutiny. In the last week of parliament prior to Easter, I had the opportunity again to inquire with the ACCC and the RBA where negotiations were up to. And they were particularly cagey with me, not wanting to reveal or respond to some of the questions that I had asked in public in Canberra. So, when we return back to the regional banking inquiry on the 16th of April, these are the same sorts of questions that I’ll be asking the RBA and the ACCC because I think there’s a very significant question to be answered here.   Nadia Mitsopoulos What is going on? Dean Smith is my guest this morning Liberal Senator for WA what do you specifically want to know?   Dean Smith I want to know what authorisations have actually been met. So, the ACCC in granting the merger to proceed would have asked Armaguard and Prosegur to comply with a number of undertakings and authorisations. I want to know, have they all been met? If they haven’t been met, why have they not been met? Secondly, I’m keen to understand what level of confidence the banks currently have, but also big retailers and organisations like Coles and Woolies and others, whether or not they are confident that cash in transit services can be sustained over the medium to longer term in this country.   Because there’s a very, very important issue for many people in Australia, despite the very significant uptake in digitization and digital payments. There are still many in our economy, people living in regional communities, the elderly, that use cash. 15% of people in Australia use cash for 80% or more of their transactions still. We also know that access to banks has been declining with bank closures.   Nadia Mitsopoulos And ATMs!   Dean Smith And ATMs closing, we know that the level of withdrawals from ATMs is also fallen significantly. So, there’s absolutely a change happening in the economy in terms of how cash is used. But as the RBA has made very, very clear, there must still always be access to cash available to people. And that’s, I suppose, at the end of the day, what am I seeking to achieve: a greater level of certainty and security that cash will be available on a day-to-day basis to people throughout the Australian economy.       Nadia Mitsopoulos Senator Dean Smith, do you have confidence that Armaguard is viable moving forward?   Dean Smith Well, I’ve not seen the books. I’ve not seen the books and they are really the questions for the RBA and…

Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury – Transcript – Interview with Nadia Mitsopoulos, ABC Mornings

Transcripts

Senator Dean Smith Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Liberal Senator for Western Australia 2 March 2024 TRANSCRIPT – Interview with Nadia Mitsopoulos, ABC Perth Topics: Armaguard, ACCC, Regional banking inquiry E&OE Nadia Mitsopoulos Dean Smith is a WA Liberal Senator. He has some questions to ask about this in parliament. Senator, good morning. Dean Smith Good morning to you Nadia. Nadia Mitsopoulos How do you see the situation that Armaguard is in now? Dean Smith Well, I suspect we’re at the beginning and not the end of this issue. I think it is important to reassure West Australians, your listeners, that it’s the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that there must be cash in the Australian economy and there must be access to that cash. So, people do not need to sort of unnecessarily worry that there might be restrictions on the availability of cash at post offices or at Coles or Woolworths or at the local ATM. But there are a couple of issues to be answered here. Armaguard and Prosegur, which is the other merger partner, went to the ACCC in 2022 asking for special permission to merge together in what we call cash in transit services. The ACCC gave them that special approval as a special authorisation because as you have identified, it created a monopoly service provider in this new merged entity. Part of the ACCC’s process was to forensically examine whether or not the financial viability of this merged entity could be met and sustained. And on the basis of that, the ACCC gave permission for the merged entity to operate. And very shortly after that, the merged entity then put up their hand and said things are much more severe than we thought they were. We can’t run the business with a viable financial structure. And then went to Coles and the supermarkets and banks and others looking for a very significant cash injection originally of $190 million over three years to make the entity viable. So, for me, a couple of important questions: Why did the ACCC find it necessary to allow the merge structure to exist given the necessary authorisations? If we are going to find ourselves in a situation where we did last week where there was a risk to cash delivery services in the economy? Nadia Mitsopoulos At the time that permission was given, did you accept the reasoning that the ACCC was given giving and the reassurances? Dean Smith Yes, in February of this year at the Senate estimates, I had the opportunity to ask the governor of the Reserve Bank, but also the ACCC chair, whether or not this merger proposal was properly founded in the ACCC’s merger process. They reassured me that they had gone through all the necessary due diligence and satisfied themselves that the new entity would be viable. But that doesn’t make sense now, because we know that last week Lindsey Fox made a personal injection of $10 million. That’s after he asked others to make a $26 million injection. Nadia Mitsopoulos Which he then rejected. Dean Smith Which he then rejected because, because the banks and Coles and Woolies and others asked to see Armaguard’s books Nadia Mitsopoulos And he said no. Dean Smith And he said no. Nadia Mitsopoulos So, what do you read into that? Dean Smith I think that there is something going on here that deserves much greater scrutiny. In the last week of parliament prior to Easter, I had the opportunity again to inquire with the ACCC and the RBA where negotiations were up to. And they were particularly cagey with me, not wanting to reveal or respond to some of the questions that I had asked in public in Canberra. So, when we return back to the regional banking inquiry on the 16th of April, these are the same sorts of questions that I’ll be asking the RBA and the ACCC because I think there’s a very significant question to be answered here. Nadia Mitsopoulos What is going on? Dean Smith is my guest this morning Liberal Senator for WA what do you specifically want to know? Dean Smith I want to know what authorisations have actually been met. So, the ACCC in granting the merger to proceed would have asked Armaguard and Prosegur to comply with a number of undertakings and authorisations. I want to know, have they all been met? If they haven’t been met, why have they not been met? Secondly, I’m keen to understand what level of confidence the banks currently have, but also big retailers and organisations like Coles and Woolies and others, whether or not they are confident that cash in transit services can be sustained over the medium to longer term in this country. Because there’s a very, very important issue for many people in Australia, despite the very significant uptake in digitization and digital payments. There are still many in our economy, people living in regional communities, the elderly, that use cash. 15% of people in Australia use cash for 80% or more of their transactions still. We also know that access to banks has been declining with bank closures. Nadia Mitsopoulos And ATMs! Dean Smith And ATMs closing, we know that the level of withdrawals from ATMs is also fallen significantly. So, there’s absolutely a change happening in the economy in terms of how cash is used. But as the RBA has made very, very clear, there must still always be access to cash available to people. And that’s, I suppose, at the end of the day, what am I seeking to achieve: a greater level of certainty and security that cash will be available on a day-to-day basis to people throughout the Australian economy. Nadia Mitsopoulos Senator Dean Smith, do you have confidence that Armaguard is viable moving forward? Dean Smith Well, I’ve not seen the books. I’ve not seen the books and they are really the questions for the RBA and the…

Transcript – Interview with with Greg Jennett, ABC Afternoon Briefing

Media Coverage, Updates and Videos

28 February 2024 Topics: Sydney Mardi Gras Police attendance, Airline competition, Pay on Delay Bill E&OE GREG JENNETT: Liberal Senator Dean Smith has been keeping an eye on this for reasons that he might soon explain to us. He joins us now live in the studio. Senator, welcome back. The update we brought to our audience only in the last 15 or 20 minutes was from the board of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, saying New South Wales Police officers will participate in this year’s parade in a reduced capacity to the originally planned full float, and that they will also be participating out of uniform. Does that address any concerns you might have had about the decision to uninvite them? DEAN SMITH: Well, as you alluded to Greg, I do speak from a unique position, not only as a parliamentarian who is a member of the LGBTI community, but as the son of a Police officer and the brother of a Police officer in the West Australian Police Force. So, I hope that this is a decision that will be welcomed not just by the LGBTI community but also by the broader Australian community. I think it does speak to the high level of cooperation and unity that has characterized New South Wales policing and LGBTI matters for a number of years. Now, I’m sure it will not satisfy everyone, but I think that we can trust that the cooperation we have seen in the past will remain, and that the decision to keep a close eye on the importance of demonstrating unity at Saturday’s March is maintained. So, I welcome the decision. GREG JENNETT: Obviously, we are awaiting word and I imagine it is being considered right now by the Australian Federal Police whether they would follow suit and restore some sort of contingent presence in this weekend’s Mardi Gras. Any views on where this leaves them? DEAN SMITH: Well, I can’t see a compelling reason why the Australian Federal Police will not follow the decision, the agreement that’s been reached by New South Wales Police and the Mardi Gras organizers. I do think that Police forces across our country should be acting in a uniform and cooperative way. And again, it speaks to the cooperation and unity that both Mardi Gras and the New South Wales police have established. So, I welcome the New South Wales police decision, but I also hope that the Australian Federal Police will follow suit. GREG JENNETT: As you alluded to in your first answer, Dean, there are historical reasons for some tensions, I suppose, between the gay and lesbian community around Sydney with a special commission of inquiry having been held in that state. And then there are more recent events, obviously the tragic killing of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird. when some of the more immediate pressure points have dissipated, do you in general think it a healthy thing that formal Police presence via a float is a regular fixture at these events? DEAN SMITH: Again, people’s attitudes to the Sydney Mardi Gras are varied. When I look at the Mardi Gras, I see demonstration of Australia’s commitment to anti-discrimination measures. I’m not someone who finds the Mardi Gras offensive. I’m not offended by the political statements that some people choose to make. It is a free country. But for me, what I see in the Mardi Gras events are Australia’s commitment to ending discrimination, a greater acceptance of LGBTI people across our community in every forum. GREG JENNETT: Well, look, thank you for putting that on the record and coming at it at least in the Federal Parliament from what I imagine is a, a unique perspective for the reasons that you outlined. Why don’t we just switch over to your daily work here, and you are behind a Coalition Bill called “Pay on Delay” that would seek to impose penalties on airlines when they seriously delayed or cancelled in this country. Why not leave this to the ACCC which has already got a few broad policies in this area? DEAN SMITH: Greg, you won’t be surprised to hear me say that the Government’s reaction so far to meeting increasing levels of demand for better service from airline consumers has been characterised by inertia and defensiveness. I think the context is very, very important. 5 million commercial flights in Australia in December last year, 5.5% level of cancellations, double the average. And of course we’ve seen in the most recent ACCC report an almost 200% increase in the number of complaints to airlines. So clearly Australians, Australian airline consumers, are demanding action. I’m delighted that Senator McKenzie and myself have put forward a bill to Parliament, a bill that’ll bring some of those questions to resolution. GREG JENNETT: Finally, we don’t have a lot of time left, but there’d be a pile of exemptions, wouldn’t there, before a penalty was actually paid to a passenger? For instance, uncontrollable weather events, air traffic delays circling around a city, all of that would have to be taken care of. DEAN SMITH: One of those things is not within the control of the Government, and that is the weather. The other is absolutely in control of the Government. Air Services Australia is a Government agency. So, I think the Government has a greater level of responsibility on this issue than it wants to accept at the moment, and we hope that our bill will put a change to that. GREG JENNETT: Well bills initiated from your side of the Parliament are pretty hard going but… DEAN SMITH: To be fair, though, Greg, to be fair, Senator McKenzie and I had some recent success, just a few months ago, with a similar bill to force the Government to reintroduce the ACCC monitoring regime. And we had some success. GREG JENNETT: Alright, well that one’s chalked up on the board. We wish you good luck with whatever lies ahead on that one.…