Northern Victoria Region
Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:53): (328) My constituency question is to the Minister for Consumer Affairs and also relates to government services. Can the minister please advise of the actions being taken to prevent scammers and to encourage organisations and government services to refrain from using third-party domains? Many scammers send emails or text messages pretending to be from a business and include links to websites that lead people to comply and lose money. Unfortunately, many businesses and also government bodies send emails and texts that look exactly the same, making it easier for scammers. My constituent Dr Ian Gillard raised the matter when VicRoads sent a registration renewal that contained links to websites requiring a username and password. Most banks stopped doing this years ago and never send such links. He advised that all government departments and local government should use their own domains, such as vic.gov.au, and refer people directly to their website instead of using short links and third-party servers. He also warned that many government departments and businesses do not know they are using overseas servers not covered by Australian privacy laws.