20 June 1991

 Senator McLEAN (New South Wales) (12.52 p.m.) - On numerous occasions I have risen in this place to expose the human and other faces of banking and of the rural crisis In Australia. I rise today to alert the Senate to the tragic circumstances of the Wilson family of Hopetown in Victoria. The circumstances of the Wilson family are a classic case of Australian battlers and honest, hardworking Australian farmers. Today they bury their two -year old son, Mathew. There is widespread anger at the Wilsons' experience of the last few months, particularly of the last few weeks, but in many respects, excepting for its tragic culmination last Monday and today, it is typical of what is happening across Australia.

I will briefly outline the Wilsons' circumstances now and I will seek leave to table a fuller description which has been provided to me in the last 24 hours on their behalf by their legal representatives with supporting evidence. I am advised that there are no matters currently before the court in relation to what is contained in those documents. Matters have been before the court previously and judgments have been made, and those judgments are referred to in the documents that I will seek to table. I have previously circulated copies of the relevant documents to both sides of the chamber.

The Wilsons' case goes back over a period of 20-odd years, but probably the most significant events have been in recent weeks. Mr Wilson was evicted from his farm by action of the Sheriffs Office on 29 May. That was only a few weeks ago. A party of 30 officers from the Sheriffs Office arrived on Wednesday, 29 May, and physically carried Mrs Wilson from her dwelling and placed her on the roadway, and they did likewise with all the Wilsons' possessions. Mr Wilson was not at home at the time. On Monday, 17 June, after the eviction, Barry's son Mathew, aged two, was with Barry on his tractor on the form. The tractor was of a cabin variety. I understand the child leant against the door, which had not been properly closed and fell out under the wheel of the moving tractor, Mathew was killed and his funeral is today.

The letter from the legal solicitor says:
The second event is a direct consequence of the first. Wilson's life was thrown into turmoil by the eviction. He has been horribly stressed, both psychologically and emotionally. I could not imagine this tragedy occurring in his life if his life had been running normally.

I am advised that the door had been damaged during the process or eviction and that Mr Wilson was not aware of the fact that the door was not functioning correctly when he placed young Mathew in the tractor before the tragedy occurred.

I was approached by the Wilson family several weeks ago to intervene on their behalf in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the eviction from the property, so I was aware of the circumstances that had been building up. The Wilson's case is one of several hundred cases from the rural sector that I have been dealing with over the last two years or so. Indeed, it is one of about 600 cases that I have on my files, The build-up to this set of circumstances Is not untypical of what has occurred in rural Australia in recent times. Of course, I think we are all aware of the fact that farmers are financially vulnerable by virtue of the nature of what they are doing, the susceptibility to seasonal change and the like. There is an acknowledged financial vulnerability. That was accommodated for by what used to be called a rural bank. But rural banks sold out to the general banking process and the pursuit of profits. Nevertheless, the financial requirements of people in rural circumstances are peculiar to those circumstances.

Over a period of years the Wilsons had made necessary financial arrangements through Westpac arid the Rural Finance Corporation. They gave rise to financial difficulties in the mid 1980s. There was an attempt on the part of Mr Wilson himself to restructure those financial circumstances with the assistance of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria, whose function specifically is to assist in those processes.

Westpac became involved in this process of restructuring. It is not unreasonable to say that eventually the financial difficulties became such that the bank walked away from him and left him in the hands of the Rural Finance Corporation. Mr Wilson put a series of restructuring propositions before the Corporation. They were all bluntly rejected, but no alternative strategies were devised for them.

The long and short of it is that, slowly but inexorably, as we have seen with so many rural families, the Wilsons found themselves moving towards financial disaster. As is so typical of the rural sector, the financial disaster often is, I believe and have argued in this place, of the making of their financiers. The obligation of those financiers to assist in the management of the financial circumstances is often abandoned.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Crowley)-Senator McLean, I may shortly be replaced In the chair, and it might assist the Senate if I were to ask you whether you wish to seek leave to table those documents now, or whether you are going to do that later.

Senator McLEAN-I was intending to do that at the end, but I will do it now. I acknowledge the point you are making.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT - Is leave granted to table the documents?
Senator Button-Not at this stage. I would like to give further consideration to this matter. I must say that, while I understand Senator McLean's good intentions, I find this whole issue somewhat distasteful in terms of debate in the Senate. I would like to have the opportunity to look at the documents before I reach a decision.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT -Thank you, Minister. Senator McLean, I understand that means that you could, at least at the end of your speech, seek leave again to table the documents, by which stage the Minister may have a different view Is it acceptable to defer leave at this time?

Senator McLEAN-That was my Intention, Madam Acting Deputy President.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT- I am sorry. Thank you, Senator.

Senator McLEAN - I find it disconcerting that Senator Button has used the word distasteful when referring to the process in which I am now involved, I would have thought, since I am acting at the request of the family and it's legal advisers and, I believe, in the public Interest, that it was by no means a distasteful process. It could certainly be described as uncomfortable and distressing; I find it so. If I eventually seek and am given leave to table the documents, they will be a case history in themselves I plead with those honourable senators who are now considering the documents to see them in their totality, because that is where their impact lies.
It might assist Senator Button if I were to now move to the matter of why I brought this to the attention of the Senate, rather than to a consideration of the details of the case injustice at the hands of financiers and so-called financial advisers is, as I say, quite widespread throughout rural Australia at the moment. It has given rise to enormous frustration and anger, and I would suggest to the Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs (Senator Tate) and to the Leader of the Government (Senator Button), that it has given rise, to a potential for violence. I also suggest that we have a responsibility to adopt all possible measures to avert those violent outcomes.
I have not brought this matter before the Senate lightly; nor have I previously brought these matters before the Senate lightly. About two months ago, a woman In Sydney advised me that she was going to take up arms and resist eviction from her property at the direction of a court order on behalf of a bank. I intervened on that occasion, spoke to the sheriff's office involved, and the woman was persuaded not to use arms in resisting eviction.
I am really building up to make the point that, as a result of visits to rural South Australia and New South Wales and soon to rural Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, I am convinced, on the one hand, that there is a need to build up pressure for action in resolving situations I have previously raised with the Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs the fact that people are not getting satisfaction through court and judicial processes Often the outcome is to be evicted after having spent thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in what are the due processes. Often the outcome is eviction by force. People who are experiencing and witnessing these processes are becoming frustrated, very angry and potentially violent. I can assure honourable senators that the results of these tragic circumstances experienced by the Wilsons are such that intervention was required on the part of authorities to, hopefully, achieve just outcomes through more prudent, just, calm and compassionate approaches to resolving the problems that these people are experiencing. The problems are widespread and the frustration is absolutely enormous. In attempting to resolve this building frustration, I have appealed to those in authority over and over again in the best ways possible to me. That is the challenge with which we are confronted.
I am advised by this family that they will be seeking to place this matter before the public, for it to be a high profile matter and so that the public share their experience. I do not believe it is unreasonable of them, in view of the 20 years' experience they have had, to seek our cooperation in order to avoid recurrences of excessive use of force in evictions associated with actions resulting from court directions achieved by banks and other financiers.
Often it is impossible for people to fight these processes otherwise. I can tell the Senate that they are now going to do it increasingly in ways which are likely to be most unfortunate. I am simply putting out a plea to those who are responsible, to assist in avoiding what may be further tragic circumstances. My intention in raising this matter in this place at the request of the Wilson family and their legal representatives is no more than to alert those in authority, and the Australian community at large, that we have a huge challenge on our hands. It is one that we have to attend to very quickly and very compassionately.
In closing, I seek leave of the Senate to table the documents which I have previously circulated, admittedly only within the last few hours because I have only had them for that period. I seek leave to table them as a case study, as a substantiation of what I have been saying before the Senate and with the best assurances I can give that they do not bring into the Senate matters which are currently before courts.