Angry retirees who lost their life savings in a failed 'rent for life' scheme rallied in Mandurah on Friday, calling on the corporate regulator to take responsibility.
Dozens of protesters gathered at David Grays Arena with signs and placards to urge the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to compensate them for the millions they lost at the hands of the failed Sterling First scheme.
Retirees who lost their savings in a failed 'rent for life' scheme rallied in Mandurah on Friday.Credit: Nine News
Prior to its collapse in June, the company offered lifetime lease packages to pensioners and retirees, allowing customers to rent properties for a certain amount of time instead of buying a house.
Many caught up in the Stirling First debacle are now facing homelessness, some while battling terminal illnesses, after handing over the life savings to the company.
"I worked 50 years, I ran a business for 23 why should I have to lose all my life savings?" retiree and Sterling First collapse victim Annette Taylor said.
The protesters called on ASIC to compensate them for their income loss. Credit: Nine News
"It's so sad," fellow protester Phil Lawson added.
"When you try and talk someone out of doing something stupid, taking some tablets and stuff like that, that grabs you."
ASIC, who started investigating the company as early as 2017, said it had received more than a hundred letters on the matter in the past two weeks but it was not able to directly make funds available for the compensation of investors who had suffered loss.
Banking and Finance Consumer Support president Denise Brailey said the ASIC was at fault and urged them to "dig deep in their pockets and pull it out of a rabbit's hat".
In a letter to a Sterling First victim, scheme mastermind Ray Jones, called for sympathy saying his son Ryan had to file for bankruptcy or facing having his car dispossessed on Friday.
-with Nine News.