Prime Minister of Australia
Hon.Scott Morrison MP
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
P.O. Box 6500 Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Mr Morrison
Re: The collapse of the Sterling Life Group by inaction of ASIC.
"Treasurer Scott Morrison told Ross Greenwood financial service companies effectively played ASIC because they weren’t fearful of the consequences."
It appears Mr Morrison that STERLING LIFE GROUP WAS ALSO NOT FEARFUL OF THE CONSEQUENCES.
My wife and I are one of the now hundreds of people that have lost their life savings and the security we had having a roof over our heads for the rest of our lives. This is something you Mr Morrison will never have to experience or have any idea of the stress and pain we have to go through, as Pollies Pensions will allow you to live in comfort and securely. Why are we in this position, because of Mr Shipton and his staff at ASIC who could not be bothered to send out a warning about Sterling New Life Group.
We joined the Sterling Life Group on the 26th July 2017 after seeing this being heavily advertised in the newspaper and on radio by well known WA personalities. This gave us a bit of confidence as we did not think they would want their reputations tarnished by something that was a con. This was months and probably years after ASIC knew there were problems with this group. If the Chairman of ASIC had issued warnings about this group we and others would not be in this situation now. This is gross neglect of his duties. Not once in the six months that we checked this Sterling Group out did we hear or see anything from any lawyer, accountant or the media that there was a problem because I reckon none of them was sent a warning from ASIC. If they could not stop Sterling from trading at least a warning would have saved all this carnage. This was supposed to be our final place to spend the rest of our lives comfortably and most of all securely.
By the gross neglect of Mr Shipton has cost all these pensioners of their savings, security and so much stress that it will lead to some people having mental health issues as well. We feel that Mr Shipton as chairman of ASIC, with a simple warning could have protected all of us from this pain. Very poor way to look after pensioners that have worked all our lives to pay taxes for his, no doubt very well paid job.
My wife and I have worked all our lives totaling over 100 years paying taxes without any benefits from Centrelink. I worked until I was 71 years old and only retired because I have a heart problem and needed to have an operation to have a stent inserted. My wife worked until she was 66 years old. We took all our money out of Super and savings to set us up for life, we cannot start over again at our age or afford to pay $400 per week rent on the age pension. We are devastated by this and and we demand from ASIC our $241500 and for all the 100s of victims that now adds up to over $46 million dollars in our losses. We were also encouraged to spend money to make it more comfortable. We spent over $10000 on solar panels , security doors, lighting and patio. What chance of getting compensated for that as I am guessing it is not in the $46 million?
It appears that Denise Brailey has been warning ASIC for decades about these PONZI schemes that seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Is it because ASIC are too lazy or dare I say it corrupt to be bothered to at least check it out to prevent this total disaster? As then Treasurer Mr Morrison I am sure you would have been informed of the Sterling Group of Companies in your monthly meetings with the ASICs Chairman or Directors surely there were alarm bells going off. If so it appears that the Government has condoned the work of ASIC as being good enough. How could a future Prime Minister allow this to happen?
I hear that one of the Directors of Stirling New Life is sailing around the Greek Islands in his yacht. Why was all the assets of these people not frozen? Surely this should be one of the first things ASIC should have done before they had time to put it in other people or families names. If this goes to court then surprise surprise they have nothing left for the victims. This constantly happens but no one from the Government can be bothered to bring in legislation to fix the problem.
It also appears that Government Departments staff are not fully informed or trained in their duties to the public. I have heard from some other of these victims that Centrelink has asked at least one person to pay their rent assistance money back as Centrlink now think the renter actually owns the property as they have paid out for 40 years rent in advance. I wish this was so Mr Morrison I could then tell the Landlord to bugger off as he no longer owns his investment property as Centrelink says I do, how good would that be. Surely Mr Morrison paying rent is still rent if it is paid weekly, monthly or 40 years in advance.
It appears that in some Centrelink offices you get rent assistance and some offices you don’t, how is this possible the rules should be the same, this is poor training. We do not need this extra stress on top of what has already happened. How are people expected to find money to pay back Centrelink when they have been robbed, with ASICs blessing of all their money? This would not have happened if they had done their job properly in the first place. Rent is rent and aged pensioners should be able to get rent assistance.
As Prime Minister I hear you believe in miracles. You can create one now for us pensioners caught up in this fiasco, you should be able to get ASIC to immediately pay out the monies required to allow us to get our money back so we can get back some peace of mind before we work out what we need to do next ie, continue to rent where we are or have to move to cheaper rent. It is still a far cry from being set for life.
This whole fiasco has caused a lot of stress in our lives that we do not need at this stage. We have a lot of nights we find difficult to sleep it hurts me to listen to my wife crying at night instead of enjoying a good nights sleep that she has earned in her later life. For the first time I have heard her use the word SUICIDE and why because of ASICs absolute gross negligence of Mr Shipton and his teams duties. We demand compensation for all this suffering on top of the $241500 stolen from us.
Please give this serious matter your utmost immediate attention as we urgently need our money back in the next few weeks so we can start to get some sanity and security back into our lives.
Yours sincerely