Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, shadow Treasurer perhaps. This bill delivers on our election commitment to get a better deal for consumers with credit cards. Any Labor member or anyone representing any seat knows that this is a huge issue. Whilst it is very easy for the member for Moncrieff to talk about pure markets and ability to say no to advertisements, the reality is that with credit it is a slightly different market. It is a bit like the carbon price: there are some times when the market does achieve the best things and occasionally we need to have the hand of government in there.

I note that in April this year there were 14.8 million credit cards in circulation in Australia, with a total credit limit of almost $135 billion. In April the credit card debt of Australians was $49.3 billion and Australians made many millions of purchases on their credit cards. I would like to go on the record and note that less than half of those purchases in April were from my wife!

See this speech in context