The Member for Davidson Jonathan O’Dea put the Police Minister David Campbell on the spot in NSW Parliament today when he asked a question without notice on why he made up claims of widespread credit card fraud in a media release on 28 March 2008.
“The media release was embargoed until 5am so it would hit breakfast radio news bulletins. It was so successful 11 stations in NSW and two each in the ACT and Queensland picked up the story,” Mr O’Dea said.
“Mr Campbell gave an alarmist warning about keeping your credit card details safe, referring to potentially thousands of customers whose credit card details had been compromised.
“However, David Bell, the Chief Executive of The Australian Banker’s Association clarified that there was no industry wide incident which would have required broad public communication.
“ABC’s Media Watch last night observed that: ‘the story was a complete beat up – one that bewildered the banks and infuriated the credit card companies.’
“Media Watch asked: ‘So why the baseless scare tactics? I reckon the real purpose was to get the Minister plenty of airtime. And the media fell for it – for a while.
“’But by lunchtime, when they’d had time to check it with the banks, every single radio station dropped it from their bulletins.’
“The Government has been a master of spin but using a bogus reason to get valuable media time is reprehensible.
“Raising emotive concerns over credit card fraud only shows how desperate the Government is to raise its profile, but this time it has backfired. It has also upset the financial sector and created an unwarranted level of concern for consumers.”
For further information, please call Jonathan O’Dea on 0418 241 500.
