Lee Melissa: Financial Advisers Amendment Bill (No 2) Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lee Melissa: Financial Advisers Amendment Bill (No 2) Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 22 June 2010. Volume:664;Page:11991. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise for the third readings of the financial services legislation. We have had quite a robust debate in the House and it has been a tremendous pleasure for me to watch the whole House and to see all the different parties in agreement that we must protect ma and pa investors who have had a bad time and have lost a lot of money. This bill is here to protect the consumers out there. 
I begin by paying tribute to the House for allowing the Commerce Committee to pass official documents to stakeholders in order for them to make comments before we presented this bill. I think it was Lianne Dalziel who said that our select committee was the engine room of Parliament. I would like to add that we were really cooking with gas in that select committee. We were firing on all cylinders. Our deputy chair Sam Lotu-Iiga had a lot to contribute. In fact all the members who participated in that select committee made valuable contributions. 
I must say as someone who did not really know much about the financial sector that I have learnt a tremendous amount from the process. Recognising that we need to return confidence to the finance sector is important and it was one of the issues we worked on. We know it as members of Parliament working on this bill and it seems that the financial sector the people who are in the business of financial advice also knew that they had to work on it. They were not being protectionist when we were talking about wanting them to make submissions. It was not a case of them saying that they do not want regulation. It was about people in the industry and members of Parliament working together to find a balance whereby we can provide protection for consumers yet allow business to get ahead. 
Probably all of us in this House personally know someone who has suffered as a consequence of some 30 finance company failures in the last 4 years. I personally know of someone who has worked as a doctor and helped a lot of people in the community by voluntary work. Her entire retirement savings were lost as a result of a finance company failure. Earlier one member said that some of these people who had lost their entire life-savings were so ashamed of the bad advice they had received or the bad choices they had made that they were too afraid to tell their families. This is what has actually happened. 
One of the major important things that we must achieve is the financial literacy of the people the public so that we all know what we are going into. This Parliament cannot protect everyone. If there is a higher interest rate on an investment then everyone must recognise that there is a higher risk and that the Government cannot protect that investment. This is great legislation and it has been a pleasure to work through the select committee process. It is my pleasure to commend the legislation to the House.