Eden Gillespie
A whistleblower says a 12-year-old boy with disabilities alleged to be the victim of indecent treatment in Cairns watch house has been flown to Brisbane and placed in housing "similar to a correctional facility". 3h ago 3 hours ago Tue 10 Jun 2025 at 12:56am
Donald Day Jr — who regularly communicated with Wieambilla killers Gareth, Stacey, and Nathaniel Train — is facing charges relating to making alleged threats and violating firearms laws. Thu 5 Jun Thu 5 Jun Thu 5 Jun 2025 at 4:00am
The defence argued the 18-year-old, who was 16 at the time, was "panicked and scared" when he showed his stepfather a knife in his pocket to get him to "back off". Mon 26 May Mon 26 May Mon 26 May 2025 at 3:12am
Ellouisa Patricia Brighton, 36, was charged with three counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and one count of arson following the deadly house fire in Toowoomba last week. Fri 16 May Fri 16 May Fri 16 May 2025 at 1:54am
A man jailed for his role in a dog fighting ring remains a member of multiple online groups that discuss the blood sport, even boasting that he has killed "more dogs than parvovirus". Fri 9 May Fri 9 May Fri 9 May 2025 at 12:16am
An ABC investigation has uncovered links between Australia and the shadowy international trade of dog fighting. Thu 8 May Thu 8 May Thu 8 May 2025 at 1:35am
The frozen semen of dogs with fighting bloodlines is being sold to overseas buyers, as an ABC investigation reveals international links between the illegal blood sport and Australia. Warning: This story contains graphic images and content involving animal cruelty. Wed 7 May Wed 7 May Wed 7 May 2025 at 10:44pm
The department is set to face court a year after the fatal fire at Slacks Creek, which claimed the life of firefighter Izzy Nash. Wed 30 Apr Wed 30 Apr Wed 30 Apr 2025 at 8:05am
Rehana Parvin, who was a mother-of-five, had travelled to her home country of Bangladesh with her teenage daughter on June last year. She disappeared about a month later. Fri 4 Apr Fri 4 Apr Fri 4 Apr 2025 at 6:30am
Details of a deadly attack on Queensland police will be aired during the trial of a conspiracy theorist in the United States charged in connection with the murders. Tue 1 Apr Tue 1 Apr Tue 1 Apr 2025 at 5:46am
A veteran who allegedly threatened mass shootings at Mardi Gras and Centrelink has had his gun license reinstated after a tribunal found he posed no "real risk" to public safety. Tue 1 Apr Tue 1 Apr Tue 1 Apr 2025 at 1:49am
The US conspiracy theorist charged in connection with a deadly attack on Queensland police has told authorities he would have tried to talk the killers out of it if he had the chance. Wed 26 Mar Wed 26 Mar Wed 26 Mar 2025 at 9:15pm
Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall says the rejected recommendations gave the service provide "an achievable path forward". Tue 25 Mar Tue 25 Mar Tue 25 Mar 2025 at 9:27pm
Rivers continue to recede and all emergency alerts have been cancelled, but tens of thousands of people are still without. Tue 11 Mar Tue 11 Mar Tue 11 Mar 2025 at 10:06pm
Rapid creek rises and dangerous flash-flooding is impacting parts of South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Mon 10 Mar Mon 10 Mar Mon 10 Mar 2025 at 10:39pm
With ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred now downgraded to a tropical low, Bribie Island locals say they're relieved the island went relatively unscathed. Sat 8 Mar Sat 8 Mar Sat 8 Mar 2025 at 6:12am
Locals face hour-long queues for sandbags as Cyclone Alfred looms off the coast. Thu 6 Mar Thu 6 Mar Thu 6 Mar 2025 at 10:27pm
Queensland's police commissioner has promised to investigate allegations a 12-year-old disabled boy was coerced into drinking toilet water at a watch house. Tue 25 Feb Tue 25 Feb Tue 25 Feb 2025 at 7:46pm
A 12-year-old boy with a disability was allegedly tormented by an older child in a Queensland watch house for more than an hour, despite the area being covered by CCTV. Mon 24 Feb Mon 24 Feb Mon 24 Feb 2025 at 10:24pm
A report finds evidence the accused rapist's "good character" was referred to in more than 90 per cent of sexual assault cases sentenced in Queensland's District Court. Wed 5 Feb Wed 5 Feb Wed 5 Feb 2025 at 4:30am
In the late 80s, Debbie Manson was detained in Osler House, an adult ward for women judged criminally insane. For the first time, our camera crew has been given exclusive access to capture this fading nightmare. Fri 10 Jan Fri 10 Jan Fri 10 Jan 2025 at 9:05pm
Investigations into the death of a Queensland firefighter will likely assess the lack of thermal imaging cameras on the day, as well as issues with training and torches, according to emergency service sources. Sun 22 Dec Sun 22 Dec Sun 22 Dec 2024 at 7:53pm
The asylum seekers were sent to PNG more than a decade ago under an offshore processing deal with Australia, which has since ended. Thu 12 Dec Thu 12 Dec Thu 12 Dec 2024 at 4:32am
A review into the Queensland Police Service finds attitudes embedded in the service's policies and procedures had fallen "short of modern community standards". Tue 10 Dec Tue 10 Dec Tue 10 Dec 2024 at 11:28pm
Former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty in September to more than 300 charges against 69 children in early learning centres in Brisbane and Italy over almost two decades.
Fri 29 Nov Fri 29 Nov Fri 29 Nov 2024 at 7:08am
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News.com.au
31 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Mum Jodie Carter shares agonising letters to bullied 12-year-old son Hamish after his suicide
Jodie Carter wishes she could have dragged the children who taunted and teased her 12-year-old son into the morgue to see his lifeless, bruised body so they could fully grasp the horrible reality of bullying. The Sydney mum makes no apologies for her brutal honesty, believing it's the only way children will ever really understand words can be deadly. 'The pain of seeing his little body at the coroners was indescribable,' she writes in her letters to her boy who died in December 2022 near his home in southern Sydney. 'I screamed and yelled and swore and cried. It just hurt so much. My beautiful little boy, lying on a hospital trolley. His arms covered because I know underneath them that he's all bruised and cut and broken.' Ms Carter wrote letters to her son Hamish every day for the first year after his passing. In them, she shares her most debilitating pain and her struggles to navigate the mundane reality of life without her son. 'It was helpful to me, as it felt like I was actually talking to him and was able to get some of my frustration and anger at losing him to of my system,' Ms Carter told 'I stopped after a year because it was hard going'. Sometimes they are almost impossible to read. Ms Carter hopes the diary entries – which now fill up several notebooks – will help others as much as they help her. 'I hope that one day I will find a way to use my letters to Hamish so that they raise awareness and stop another young child from being bullied,' she told 'I can't bring him back but I can fight for change. That's my calling now.' Ms Carter today shares extracts of her first six months of writing to her Darling Hamey. 20 December 2022 Tragedy, Hamey passed away yesterday. The worst thing I ever could imagine would happen ...we are devastated. I'm numb, empty, sad, angry. 21 December 2022 The pain of seeing his little body at the coroners was indescribable I screamed and yelled and swore and cried. It just hurt so much. My beautiful little boy lying on a f**king hospital trolley. His arms covered because I know underneath them that he's all bruised and cut and broken. There was blood on his head and a big hole in his skull and his head was soaked and stiff from the blood. His lips were blue and bruised. His little hands were all cut. Bruises and abrasions on each side of his face. My little darling. I thought I saw his eye start to open and I was just imagining it. I kept calling his name Hamey, Hamey, Hamey. He didn't want to die. I know he didn't want to die. Those kids pushed him and they will live a very hard life for what they have done. I want them to see what they have done to my beautiful little boy. See how hurt he was and that he spent a night in the cold in the bush, and I don't know if he died straight away or if he died slowly and painfully while I was sleeping not 50 mtrs up the road and unaware. I feel so guilty for not being there to save him and not stopping him. We went to bed at 10pm ish and he walked down the stairs towards me. The last thing I got to say to him was 'do you think your taller than me?' He stepped down to my level and I said 'not quite buddy' and gave him a hug. He just stood there and I said 'hug me back Hame' He patted me on the back. I'm pretty sure and I really hope that I kissed him on the forehead and said I love you. Then I went to bed and said 'don't stay up too late' then the nightmare began. Christmas Day 2022 Its been 6 days since Hamey passed. Our first Christmas without him and so soon after he left us. Its been a sad, but OK day. We opened all the presents he had given us and also opened his presents. He got lots of PS5 stuff. Headphones and games and memorabilia. We will set up as part of a shrine for him of his cool stuff. We didn't eat any usual Christmas food, just the fruit and some nibbles we already had here. Todd asked Barney if he would take Hamish's coffin on the Harley side car like a bikie funeral. We all think its pretty cool and would be happy for that to happen to get him to the church. Steve, Todd and Phil may ride their bikes in with him as a motorcade. We all think he will love it as he really enjoyed going on the bikes with Steve when they did their big ride. We all had a few tears this morning. Steve and I have been chatting to Hamey. When we finished opening the presents the lights flickered. I believe it was Hamish. 28 December 2022 Yesterday was pretty hard. You kind of float around just trying not to feel anything. Then visitors turn up and you are distracted for a bit. I woke up yesterday absolutely soaked in sweat. I had to wash all my doonah and mattress protector, pillows, everything was awful. In the afternoon Kam, Mya and I sat on the lounge and coloured in and read etc. I was trying to think of things for Ham's end of life celebration. Some funny, meaningful memories. I started to look at photos and both Kam and I just cried and cried. He was and is so little and so cute. There was so much life to live and I'm angry and devastated at his loss, why, why, why. I just want him back. 31 December 2022 The last day of the year. I don't even know how to describe what I'm feeling. I dreamt about Hamish this morning. We were at a toy shop. He found something he liked and opened it up and was showing it to me. That is all I remember. I just feel sad. We have been at Steve's for 3 days now with the dogs. Its time to go home. We have to take Hamish's clothes to the funeral home today. That is upsetting too. I know I want to put him in his hoodie and trackies. I'm struggling writing his eulogy. He was so little and I want to write positive things, but keep thinking of sad things. I also keep seeing him looking at me on the Sunday the day before. He came down to see me and just looked at me with this sad face. Why didn't I grab him and hug him and hold him tight and tell him how much I loved him. Instead I said 'Whats up Buddy' and he said 'F**k you' and walked away. What the hell did I do so wrong. Reading through all the emails I sent to the police. I said so many times about how sad he was and I did take him to counselling but I didn't take him to the doctors. He said he didn't need medication, he was fine. So now I have this huge guilt feeling. How will that ever go away? 1 January 2023 Michael the celebrant came today to talk to us through Hamish's service. He is lovely and it was very helpful to have him explain the whole process so patiently. I have taken lots of notes and now Kam and Cha and I have some focus on what needs to be done. Kam is writing a speech now and Charli wants to write one too. The hard part now is getting the right song. (we ended up selecting 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyd for him to be carried in with. Then 'Wish You Were Here' Pink Floyd and the 'Little Wonders' song by Rob Thomas that always made us all cry when we watched the Movie ' Meet the Robinsons, that Hamish loved so much'. The song to carry him out too was 'Nothing else matters' by Metallica. That's exactly how we felt. 3 January 2023 We visited Hamish at the funeral home … I held his hands, they were so cold to touch. My hands eventually warmed his. He didn't really look like himself. His face had bruises. His little nose was bruised and his forehead. His hair was really soft. He had his hoodie on. His little hands were crossed over his belly. We gave him some notes and stayed with him for a while. I gave him a mug and some hot chocolate and marshmallows and his sunglasses and his dream catcher and a soft monkey and soft dog. It was very sad. I kissed his forehead and put my forehead on his. It was so cold I watched the candle flickering and hoped it was a sign from him. 13 January 2023 Today was a hard day. I woke up OK and I felt all right for a bit. The counsellors came today at 10am. We all got a bit teary talking to them about our story. We had to take Charli to work and I made Kam go with me as Cha wanted to go to Big W. I kept my eyes down and felt instantly sad when we walked in. All the back to school stuff was out and it hurt thinking that I wont be getting. 18th January 2023 Dear Hamey, Today Kam and I picked up your ashes from Woronora Crematorium it was quite surreal. Yet another thing we had to face up to doing that we just don't want to do. Not want to as in we don't want to collect your ashes Hamish, we want you. We want you more than anything. We are all so devastated by you leaving us. Love Mum xxxxx 25 January 2023 Darling Hamey, its been a hard couple of days for all of us. Yesterday I spent half the day in tears. I had to collect your death certificate from the post office. The cause of death it said was multiple injuries. What parent ever wants to read that! Love Mum xxxx 26th January 2023 Dear Hamey, it was Australia Day today. Super hot and our aircon has broken down. Its getting fixed next weekend. Kammy and I had a few tears this morning. Kam dreamt about you, so she woke up sad. She said it was a nice dream though. Lots of love Mum xxxx 30 January 2023 Dear Hamey, tonight Kam, Cha and Mya and I had to go through the list of places to visit for tours for our big Europe trip. You know, you're coming too. We are taking your ashes or some of them so we can sprinkle you around a bit so you still get to go to the places I wanted you to visit. Ireland, London, Rome, Greece and Disneyland Paris and some cool theme parks that Kam has selected for you in Dubai. Perhaps we will put some of your ashes in a satchel or locket so we can just carry you around as well as leaving some for you to enjoy those places. I have to reply to Andy the detective tomorrow he has given us another update on their research and he says bullying did contribute to your passing. Which makes me so sad and angry. We will work to getting some sort of laws in your honour Hamey. We miss you darling. Lots of love Mum xxxxx 4th Feb 2023 Dear Hamey, Hi darling. I miss you heaps!!!. We had the aircon installed today. It works really well and you would love it. The man wanted to check the air in your room and he asked if anyone was in there. I said no you can go in. He still knocked at your door before he entered and I said 'its OK there is no one in there' which must makes me feel ill that you're not here. Its like the movies where no one touches the room of the child who died. Its exactly as you left it. I was looking for a frame today for your photo that we had on the mantle. I found the frames and some photos of you at preschool. That made me so sad. You are such a gorgeous boy, so spunky and I'm devastated, heartbroken you are not here. I'm just existing at the moment. Going through the motions and still loving your sisters. I would do anything to have you back. We all miss you darling Love mum xxxxxxx 8 February 2023 Dear Hamey, I've had too much to drink tonight. I'm sure you would have the shits with me. When I drove into work this morning I drove past a tall skinny boy in trackies like yours and he just looked like you and I started to cry and had to breathe. Like really breathe to pull myself together to get to work. Got through the day and the second I got in the car Guns N Roses came on 'Sweet Child O Mine' and I was crying again and couldn't stop and just cried all the way home. When I got home Mr Meagher had left your art folder at the front door. So I looked through that and cried again. Said hi to Charli and kept crying. Went out to water the garden and cried. Kam came home and I cried. So a shit night and I drank lots of wine. Cooked a shit dinner and watched a shit show on telly and I'm in bed now. Hopefully I'll sleep better cos I'm so tired. I miss you darling. Love Mum xxxxxx 15 February 2023 Dear Hamey Smoo, its your birthday tomorrow. The girls and I have been feeling pretty sad today thinking about it. What a strange and upsetting thing to go through. I keep seeing your gorgeous smile. I still walk up the stairs everyday and look in the PlayStation room for you. Your door is always closed and I try to rush past and not look at it or think about it too much. I still have a pile of your clean clothes in my bedroom that I cant really bring myself to do anything with. I don't really like being upstairs much. I only really come up to say goodnight to the girls and sleep. Then I'm running away. Kam and I had a few drinks tonight and Cha and the dogs hung out while we watered the garden. We all miss you, we are all sad. We will go up to dads in the morning and go on the ride and celebrate or rather commemorate your birthday. We love you and miss you so much darling. Lots of love mum xxxxxxx 18 March 2023 Darling Hamey, hi baby. Shit tomorrow is 3 months since you have passed. Well since we found out. According to the coroner you died before midnight on the 18th December. F**k Hamish, f**k f**k f**k I'm so f**king shitty about this whole thing. That bloody friend of yours that never told anyone. I wonder how she is feeling now. How are they all feeling? Little shits. 1 April 2023 Darling Hamey, a pinch and a punch for the 1st of the month. Oh boy how did this happen. 1⁄4 of the year is gone already. You have been gone for 3 months and 12 days. Its not been easy my darling boy. I took the dogs for a walk today. It was so much cooler, so we went a bit further than usual. My light is flickering beside my bed. I've been watching a thing on You Tube about signs from Angels. One of them is lights flickering. So I'm going to assume it's a message from you. What I was going to tell you was that I went down to your memorial again today. I didn't cry this time though. I was very calm. Some little birds flew over to say hello and pottered around in the top of the tree. I was thinking I should bring you something. Like the movie Under the Tuscan Sun and the old man takes flowers everyday to a memorial. Anyway I'm pretty sure you haven't seen that movie. I must make the girls watch it before we go away. Hamey darling please can you help bring me a miracle so we can go away. At the moment it feels like such an effort to get the money. I pray things will turn around soon and we can move forward. I miss you darling. Lots of love mum xxxxxxx 5 April 2023 Darling Hamey, hi my little precious. Did you come grocery shopping with me and the girls tonight? I hadn't really done a proper grocery shop with a trolley at Aldi in weeks/months it feels. When we were packing the bags at the car I had this pang of sadness of you and that here we are just shopping and packing the car and there is nothing in there for you. None of your cheese pizzas or chip snacks. You wont be home when we get home and I'm yelling at you to come down and help unload the car and show you what we got for you. Such a weird feeling Hamey. When you catch yourself doing something normal and you're going with the flow and then you realise your not there. Its really upsetting. 23 April 2023 Darling Hamey, hi baby it's Sunday night. I finally finished my statement for Andy today and emailed it through. I held it together for ages and was very mature about the whole thing. Removing my nasty remarks and blame and swear words. Basically it came down to you being bullied all those years and the damage it did to you and building up over the years. I wish I had taken you out of school. I wish I had taken you to different counsellors or psychologists and most of all I wish you were still here. I still think (name removed) should have handled the situation better and not put you in with the bullies and instead protected you more. Instead of thinking you were a trouble maker. Anyway I have sent it off now and I will follow up with Andy during the week. I also typed up quite a few more of my letters to you. I'm getting quite a collection together. It's hard reading back through them. They do make me cry. I miss you so much darling. Lots of love mum xxxxxxxxx 13th May 2023 Darling Hamey, hi baby. It my first Mother's Day without you tomorrow. You know what I thought I will wear my bracelet that has the little angel message on it from you. So that was comforting I had something special. Today I was trying to find Kamryn's birth certificate as Gada needs it to cancel our holiday to Europe. So sad anyway I couldn't find her birth cert. I was looking everywhere for it. Which lead me to finding more of your things. So that's quite lovely as I now have a cute little note I found from you that says 'Dear Mum, I love you, from Hamish' and it has a lovely drawing you did of you and me. So that was such a nice find and I have stuck it up on my desk. I also then found your hair from your first haircut and the little umbilical clip they put on you when you were first born. It was in your baby health book – which I never even filled anything in. 15 June 2023 Darling Hamey, gorgeous boy!! I wonder what your doing. Tonight I got home an came up to my bedroom to change into my daggy trackies so I could cuddle the dogs. I noticed your sheep that is in my room was on the floor. I'm sure he was sitting on the chair this morning. I wonder how he moved. Was it you? Maybe I should ask Charli and see if it was her. 18th June 2023 Darling Hamey, hi baby. Its been a really sad day today. It's 6 months since you left us. Which has brought up intense memories and sadness all day. I have pretty much cried all day and now again thinking of you and just feeling awful. I took the dogs to your memorial again and we stood there for a while and looked out. My heart actually hurt Hamey. I could feel it aching. Missing you and loving you so much and wanting you back so badly darling. Man it f**king hurts so much. Its like I'm just re-living everything and its so painful. I was trying to think of an excuse for something to say tomorrow at work when we talk about the weekend or just what's on our mind, because I don't want to say its 6 months since you went away because I will start crying again and feel terrible. I'll get through the day and come home and feel sad again then no doubt. F**king hell darling, so much to deal with and feel sad about. I would do anything to have you back Hamey. I miss you so much. Lots of love mum xxxxxxxx 19th June 2023 Darling Hamey, well that's it Hame another f**ked up milestone. 6 months to the date we found you had left us. The coroner said you had passed before midnight on the 18th. Even writing that sentence makes me feel sick Hamish. Just sick and sad and it hurts. Today Andy sent a note to say he is about to submit your report to the coroner. I reminded him it was 6 months today and he said he couldn't imagine how we must feel as it had been challenging for him to write the report and he had to give himself breaks away from it. I think I have a headache now. I want to see the report. Then its just going to bring it all flooding back again. When I write to you its just day by day. Having to go back through everything is heart wrenching. I know this because I have been putting off typing up your story from the notebooks and now I'm going to be weeks behind. I will have to make an effort to do that Hamey.
ABC News
44 minutes ago
- ABC News
Dorinda Cox accuses Greens of racism in scathing resignation letter
In a fiery resignation letter, ex-Greens senator Dorinda Cox has accused her former party of racism and ignoring serious claims she raised, including disputed allegations of an assault at Perth Airport by a party member. The senator also denied in her letter ever bullying others, contrary to reporting, adding she herself had suffered an "unremitting" campaign of bullying over the past 18 months. Senator Cox spectacularly defected to Labor last week after sitting as a Greens senator for the past four years. Announcing her move to Labor, Senator Cox said her values were more aligned with the government — though it prompted calls from Greens senators to hand back the seat and left party leader Larissa Waters "disappointed". The Greens revoked Senator Cox's membership last week, after her announcement. In a formal resignation letter, Senator Cox said she was no longer bound by confidentiality obligations, and could put on the record how the Greens had "failed [her] as its last First Nations MP, and continue to fail First Nations people". "In my experience, the Greens tolerate a culture that permits violence against First Nations women within its structures. In this respect, the party is deeply racist," she wrote. "My reports to the party and parliamentary workplace services range from being assaulted at Perth Airport by a party member, which was ignored (indeed, I was advised not to report it to police), to incidents involving my staff who were isolated by the state and other MPs offices." The Greens have disputed that account. Senator Cox and former ACT candidate Tjanara Goreng Goreng reportedly made complaints against each other to police in 2023 after an altercation at Perth Airport over the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Dr Goreng Goreng denied those claims she harassed or assaulted the senator to The Guardian, and has been contacted by the ABC. The senator also named incidents of rumours being shared within Greens networks as examples of a "toxic culture", where the party had sought to quiet her rather than address issues. "Recently, my children were approached by a former staff member who had publicly made serious allegations about me at a Greens event. This type of mobbing made its way into 'moderated' online meeting chats and the widely circulated meeting minutes of the [Australian Greens First Nations Network]. "The Greens failed in their duty of care for my staff and me, and disregarded the reported and obvious impact of what was occurring. The focus was solely on winning seats," she wrote. Ms Waters's office only learned of the complaint after being contacted by the ABC. In a statement, a Greens spokesperson disputed the claims by Senator Cox. "These claims are disappointing, unrepresentative of the support Senator Cox received and ignore the substantive work undertaken by the party to find a resolution to the complaints made both by and against Senator Cox, and to address the breakdown in her relationship with Greens' First Nations members," the spokesperson said. "The Greens are an anti-racism party, and pushing a senator to take complaints seriously is not bullying. "As the [Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission] and [Parliamentary Workplace Support Service] are the bodies created by parliament to address complaints from staff, they can continue to investigate ongoing matters. This is unchanged by the senator's decision to move to a party that continues to destroy First Nations cultural history through approving coal and gas projects." The ABC has been told former Greens leader Adam Bandt's office was closely involved in finding a resolution to the airport matter, but the other matters raised in Senator Cox's letter were unknown to the party and not understood to have been previously raised with the leader's office. Senator Cox suggested despite her internal struggles she had maintained her professionalism and loyalty to the party, but after the election lost confidence that her concerns would be addressed. The Greens senator apologised late last year after several bullying complaints in her office were reported in the Nine newspapers, citing "challenging conditions both political and personally", but added the reporting was missing context. In her letter, Senator Cox said, contrary to reporting, at the time of her leaving the Greens there were no "grievances" pending against her in the party's conflict resolution process and that none had been put to her during her time as a senator. "I have faced an unremitting campaign of bullying and dishonest claims over the last 18 months," Senator Cox said. Ex-Greens senator Lidia Thorpe claimed last week that she still had an active complaint against her former colleague that had sat unresolved for three years. A former staffer to Senator Cox told the ABC she was "deeply surprised" and "offended" by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's suggestion that complaints against Senator Cox had been dealt with. That staffer, who worked for Senator Cox for six weeks in 2024, said her brief time in the office had left her traumatised. Mr Albanese has repeatedly insisted the complaints have been examined and are in the past. An internal investigation by the WA Greens into complaints raised against Senator Cox has been dropped now that she has left the party. Senator Cox concluded her letter saying she was now free to do the role she was elected to do by the people of WA, and she remained focused on delivering "tangible outcomes for First Nations peoples and other Australians".
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Millions of Australians could miss out on refunds from financial misconduct
Millions of Australians sold dud insurance with their home loans, car loans or credit cards may be entitled to compensation but a looming deadline of June 30 could see many miss out. For decades, the big four banks, other lenders and insurers raked in billions from these policies, while paying out as little as 11 cents in the dollar, rendering these financial products effectively junk insurance. The products, known as Consumer Credit Insurance and other add-on insurance products, became a symbol of the financial misconduct exposed during the banking royal commission. They were routinely bundled with credit cards, personal loans, home loans and car loans. Sometimes with the false claim that the loan wouldn't be approved if the customer didn't take up the insurance. The products were marketed as protection in the event of an accident, illness or job loss. But in too many cases customers didn't understand what they were paying for, didn't need the cover, or were ineligible to claim. Some were even signed up without their knowledge or consent. The real scandal isn't just that these junk insurance policies were sold but that the industry got away with exploiting customers for so long. ASIC launched an investigation into the products in 2011, issuing warnings and recommendations that went largely ignored as evidenced by the continued mis-selling of the products over the next few years. It wasn't until the fallout from the royal commission's final report in 2019 that things started to change. To put the magnitude of the problem into context, over a 29-year period, it is estimated that more than 10 million add-on insurance products were sold in Australia, valued at billions of dollars, some believe it could be as high as $10 billion. To date, claims have been refunded through a combination of class actions, internal dispute resolutions with the institutions and complaints lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). According to ASIC, insurers have repaid over $270 million to customers who were mis-sold add-on car-yard insurance and CCI. It means billions of dollars is potentially still unclaimed by millions of customers. But that is now at risk. AFCA, the industry-funded external dispute resolution service, has imposed a final deadline of June for customers who were sold these products before July 2019 to lodge a claim. Originally set for February 2025, the cut-off was extended earlier this year. The deadline is based on AFCA's position that the banking royal commission, which handed down its final report in February 2019, should have alerted consumers to the widespread problems with add-on insurance. As a result, AFCA argues that most people should have been aware or reasonably aware of the issue from that point. The six-year limit reflects AFCA's standard rule for complaints: that they must be lodged within six years of the consumer becoming aware or reasonably expected to have become aware that they suffered a loss. In this case, AFCA is effectively using the royal commission as the trigger for starting that six-year clock. With less than three weeks to go before the deadline, there are growing fears that thousands, possibly millions of Australians with legitimate claims may miss out because they don't know they are eligible. A similar insurance scandal rocked Britain, where more than 60 million add-on insurance policies were sold between 1990 and 2010. Like in Australia they were bundled with loans, credit cards or mortgages, and sold to people who didn't need or couldn't use them. It culminated in financial institutions being forced to repay an eye-watering £48 billion ($99.5 billion) to customers, making it the largest insurance scandal and redress scheme in UK history. The product at the centre of it all, Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), became a household term for financial misconduct. The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ran a high-profile public awareness campaign that included TV ads, urging people to check if they were eligible for refunds. The FCA eventually set a final deadline of August 2019, nearly a decade after the scandal came to light. In 2017, two years before the final cut-off, the UK regulator launched an additional national campaign to raise awareness about the looming deadline for claims. The campaign featured a robotic model of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator head urging people to act, with the now-famous line: "Make a decision. Do it now." The ad, funded by 18 of the worst-offending banks, building societies and credit card providers, ran across TV, radio and digital platforms, which helped get the message out. In stark contrast, Australia's deadline has arrived with little fanfare. Consumer Action Law Centre's chief executive said junk insurance, by its nature, is hidden, harmful and of poor value and the policies wrongfully enriched corporations at the expense of customers. "Even today, there are people becoming aware of their right to a refund of junk insurance premiums," she said. On AFCA's June 30 deadline, she said many affected customers very likely didn't watch the royal commission, or read their loan documents closely enough to know they were entitled to a refund. "There will be more becoming aware of their rights down the track," she said. Tonkin said if only a few people are claiming, there's no need for a strict deadline. But if lots of people are still coming forward, it shows the problem hasn't been fixed and should be extended. "At the very least, AFCA should retain a discretion to allow claims, particularly for consumers experiencing vulnerability," she said. And she said it should be incumbent on banks and other lenders that profited from junk insurance policies to be identifying customers who are entitled to a refund. The founder of financial refund service Claimo, Nathan Mortlock, estimates more than 5 million Australians were sold add-on insurance, estimated at more than $17 billion. Claimo has been processing thousands of claims for potential victims of add on insurance. Since A Current Affair aired a story last November about the looming deadline, Claimo said it has received almost 50,000 new enquiries. "That surge proves Australians were not previously aware. If they were, they would have come forward in 2019," he said. Some claimants received anything from a few thousand dollars to more than $20,000 with Claimo taking a 30 per cent cut. All up it has 70,000 cases, worth an estimated $67 million. "Millions of Australians may miss out on compensation they're legally entitled to, simply because they didn't know they were victims in time," he said. Mortlock said AFCA was supposed to protect consumers but by setting an arbitrary cut-off date and forcing people to prove they didn't know about the issue sooner, it's creating legal hurdles that most can't get over. Add-on insurance was the industry's dirty little secret for years. It first landed on ASIC's radar in 2011, at the height of the UK's own add-on insurance scandal. That year, the regulator launched an investigation into 15 financial institutions including the big four banks, CBA, NAB, ANZ and Westpac over the sale of consumer credit insurance (CCI), the most common add-on product. ASIC made 10 recommendations, but little changed. The products kept selling, the mis-selling continued, and the industry kept profiting at the expense of customers. In 2017 ASIC sounded the alarm again, raising concerns about the way the products were being sold. And in 2019, following the release of the banking royal commission's final report, ASIC released a fresh report that had reviewed the sale of CCI products by 11 financial institutions between 2011 and 2018 and found the sales practices and product design were still delivering "extremely poor value for money." It found that for CCI sold with credit cards, consumers received only 11 cents in claims for every dollar paid in premiums. Across all CCI products the average return was 19 cents, confirming the product was effectively junk. "Telephone sales staff used high-pressure selling and other unfair sales practices when selling CCI, and consumers were given non-compliant personal advice to buy unsuitable policies," ASIC's report said. Since the release of the report, the 11 lenders it focused on as part of its investigation, stopped selling CCI with credit cards, personal loans, or home loans. In a statement Emma Curtis, AFCA's Lead Ombudsman for Insurance, said AFCA wanted to make sure consumers know this deadline is approaching so it has been running ads on radio across the country, as well as print ads in major newspapers and online, to reach as many people as possible. "Under our rules, AFCA will generally not consider a complaint unless it was submitted within six years of the date the complainant first became aware or should reasonably have become aware that they have suffered a loss. The sale of add-on insurance has been the subject of significant media, regulator, industry and consumer advocacy campaigns and class actions for many years. AFCA is letting consumers know that we will generally consider complaints regarding the sale of add-on insurance sold before July 2019, provided they are submitted to AFCA by June 30 this year." She said AFCA will generally assess complaints lodged after that date as outside the six year time limit, unless the complainant can demonstrate that special circumstances apply, which we will assess on a case-by-case basis. ASIC said in a statement it had published numerous reports revealing that add-on insurance sold at point-of-purchase was often low value, commission-driven, and ultimately ended up in customers paying for coverage they were unaware of or did not need. ASIC's remediation update in 2022 found that there had been $5.6 billion in remediation for an estimated seven million Australian consumers for failures identified across the financial system. This included remediations in the insurance industry totalling more than $1.3 billion. Junk insurance was just one component of this, along with pricing promises failures and poor sales practices. It seems after years of financial misconduct the burden is on consumers, many still unaware they're owed a refund. With little fanfare and a deadline fast approaching, millions may slip through the cracks.
