Scandal tainting Brittany Higgins compensation highlights Labor’s betrayal of Sterling First victims

The questions now being asked about Labor Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s speedy compensation payment to Brittany Higgins, within months of taking office, highlight Labor’s betrayal of the elderly victims of the Sterling First rent-for-life scandal, who remain uncompensated and facing eviction and homelessness. The Australian Citizens Party is calling on the Albanese government to act on Labor’s pre-election rhetoric and compensate the Sterling First victims for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s failure to police the Sterling Income Trust Ponzi scheme. In 2015 serial Ponzi scheme offenders launched the Sterling First rent-for-life scheme targeting retirees looking to downsize, but ASIC ignored the directors’ connections to past financial failures. In 2015-2017 ASIC ignored multiple complaints about Sterling First, marking them NFA—No Further Action—despite knowing the scheme was falsely advertised and targeted vulnerable elderly consumers. In 2017 ASIC ignored a complaint about Sterling First from a Western Australian government department for six months, before finally launching an investigation. In 2019 Sterling First collapsed, ruining around 130 elderly victims who had paid their rent in advance for the rest of their lives. Renowned consumer advocate, Denise Brailey, began working with the Sterling First victims to achieve an inquiry and compensation. In 2021 the ACP got involved in the campaign for justice for the Sterling First victims, and in August 2021 mobilised people all over Australia to call and email Senators to request an inquiry into the Sterling First scandal and ASIC’s failures. In October 2021, Labor Party Senators Louise Pratt and Deb O’Neil took the lead in establishing a Senate inquiry, which held powerful hearings that confirmed ASIC received multiple warnings on Sterling First, but failed to act. In February 2022 the Senate inquiry released its final report, which slated ASIC’s performance, “including its under-assessment of the gravity of the risks, the timeliness o