Dear Prime Minister
Mr Scott Morrison
Re: Collapse of the Sterling Group
Mr Prime Minister, I am sure that by now you are aware of the collapse of the Sterling group
that has left 101 elderly citizens destitute and devastated with the loss of their life saving and
homes following the complete and total neglect of ASIC.
ASIC became aware of the problems with this lease for life scheme in 2015 and apart from making telephone calls to a few residents and knocking on their doors to ask if they were happy
with the arrangement, they (ASIC) did nothing to stop this scheme. If they had done their job
originally when there was approx 6-12 tenants only invested then we the now 101 tenants would
not be in the position we are today.
We worked hard for our whole lives to secure our retirement and when this scheme was presented
we all thought this was the answer to our downsizing dreams. None of the people involved went
into this without doing thorough checks with financial advisors, accountants and solicitors before
signing up. We were all assured that our investment of between $200,000 to $265,000 were
completely safe and secure and that NO-ONE could access our funds except us either by leaving
the home or by our deaths. The thought of having a secure tenure of a home for the rest of our
lives was fantastic. It freed up the equity we all had in our homes and therefore afforded us a
secure living financially. This dream had now turned into a complete nightmare. We find out that
the lying thieving directors, Ray and Ryan Jones and the rest of the gang have stolen all the funds
that were supposed to be held in a secure trust fund and nothing is left.
We all now face the prospect of being evicted from our homes and in most cases financially we
have no money left apart from our pensions and no way of re earning the amount of money
that we have lost.
We just cannot go back out to work at our age, so where are we to go. People are suffering
health wise as well as this whole debacle has caused so much stress and heartache, to go to
the creditors meeting and seeing so many grown men and women crying is shocking. This
should never have been allowed to happen. And the government should hang their head in
shame that it has.
Mr Morrison, your government department ASIC are the ones that are responsible for
this whole mess by not taking the appropriate action when they first became aware of this
scheme and put a stop to the leases being sold. Sterling were still selling and lying to
investors in March 2019 when they were already aware that they were in massive trouble.
That is taking money illegally. THAT IS FRAUD. They went into administration a few weeks
later. How can this have happened? These men should have been stopped from taking
the lifesavings and dreams of so many people by ASIC.
ASIC has a duty to the Australian people by making sure that businesses are run properly and
that all investments etc are secure for the investors, not by ignoring the crooks and letting
them steal funds that are not theirs. This has happened too many times and we now have
to ask why ASIC are not doing the job they are there to do. With a budget of $450 million I
have to say this is a complete waste of taxpayer’s money. It is time to stop this and
sack the regulators, sack Mr James Shipton for not doing his job that no doubt he is paid a
lot of money to do and investigate ASIC.
You, Mr Morrison have a duty to instigate an investigation into this matter and to ask Mr
James Shipton why was this scheme allowed to continue and not stopped. You, have the
Power to change how this department is run. This cannot be allowed to continue in the
future. The Australian taxpayers expect more from our government.
I have written to Mr Shipton and also the treasurer Mr Frydenberg in the last few weeks
to voice my disapproval on this whole matter and to demand that the tenants and investors
of this mess be reimbursed for the money that they have lost due to the failure of ASIC.
So I am doing the same to you Mr Morrison, arrange for the immediate return of funds to
us all so that we can continue to live out our lives with security and peace.
Arrange for $36 million be deposited in an arranged trust account for the many tenants and
investors that have lost their life savings because of a failure by this government department
in protecting our investments. This department is ASIC and they failed
Mr Morrison, recently in the news you made a comment re the Australian being held in
North Korea, Mr Alek Sigley that as you were unable to help with his release that you were
now turning to prayer for his safe return home to his family. Well I now ask you to do the
same for the 101 elderly Australians being held to ransom by the thieves who have stolen
their money and futures. You are able to help us all Mr Morrison and I pray that you do.
Yours sincerely