THE COALITION POWERS-UP THE CONSUMER DATA RIGHT
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 Parliamentâs 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 Coalitionâs intervention to
pass the Bill, leaving many to wonder whether the Assistant Treasurer had forgotten
about his own legislation.
Even when Laborâs own legislation has unanimous support, they are still unable to pass
it.
The Assistant Treasurer is a single-issue minister, with little interest in Australiaâs digital
economy or financial services sector.
Stephen Jonesâ myopic approach leaves colleagues to make their own duplicative
announcements, like âOne-Click Energy Switchâ, which is a use case CDR action
initiation was built for.
Laborâs 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: âIâm not sure if thereâs going to
be an amendment movedâĶ Iâve been advised there is some further work to do, and that
makes debating this not possibleâĶ that work will need to be done, and it will need to be
brought back after the winter recess.â
On the same day, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: âWe 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.â
No further work was done. No amendment was moved. Stakeholders were left in the
dark.
Laborâs management of its legislation is a farce, and it has taken the Coalitionâs
intervention to mop up their mess.
The Albanese Governmentâs 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
CDRâs 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 â another promised initiative which has stalled without
explanation under Labor.
Background:
âĒ 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.
âĒ The Consumer Data Right has already been rolled out to banking and energy,
with non-bank lending to follow as the third sector.