Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 16 May 2018.)

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:19): I rise today to speak on the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018, clearly in support of this bill as this is something I have been very passionate about for a long time. I think this is fantastic for South Australian consumers. It is another of our Marshall election commitments coming into the last election.

I think everyone would have had the experience sometime when they have gone to their bedside table, their sock drawer, their bits-and-pieces drawer—maybe in the kitchen where all those things seem to hide and never be seen again—and unearthed a gift card from somewhere. Maybe it was a birthday present, a Christmas present, a Father's Day present or a Mother's Day present, something they have been given that was of cash value. They have they put it away because they did not need to purchase something from that store at the time they received the card but, more than a year later, when the expiry date is done, they find it and think, 'Wow, I missed out on my $50 at the local store,' or, 'I missed out on getting myself a new tool for the shed,' or maybe a new piece of clothing or some new shoes. That cash is gone.

Again, everyone has potentially experienced that once, maybe more, in their lives. That is what this bill is about. We want to make sure that people who get a gift card have ample time to use it, given that a gift card is like cash. In terms of what this bill will do, the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018 amends the Fair Trading Act 1987 to require that any gift card sold in South Australia must have a minimum expiry date of not one year but three years. This is absolutely outstanding, as we said, for all consumers, meaning they can get the value of the cash that has been put in.

Bear in mind that when you do purchase a gift card you purchase it on a certain date for the value of, say, $50. In three years' time, $50 is still $50. The price of the goods or services you might want to get might have gone up, but the value of the card is still $50. These cards have cash on them, obviously, and we think you should have ample time to be able to use them. As I said, a lot of people have experienced that gut-wrenching pain, I suppose, when they find a gift card and realise that it is past its expiry date.

The government has committed to making gift cards more consumer friendly. Again, that is what this really is about: the cards will have that extra time on them when they are purchased. Consumers do not often have the time. You might get something, as we have said, as a birthday present and, if you do not purchase something before your next birthday, the value is gone; the card is gone, and that really is not fair.

The market for gift cards is growing by the minute. It is said that the gift card market in Australia is $2.5 billion a year. That is a lot of money that goes into gift cards. They are just a nice, easy way that people can purchase a gift, and the intent is that the person you give the gift card to will be able to purchase exactly what they need or want. It is estimated that, of that $2.5 billion a year, $200 million is lost in unredeemed gift cards, and that is what really flags the need for this piece of legislation.

We want to make sure that the percentage of South Australians caught up in that $200 million of lost or unredeemed cards get better value for their buck and a better opportunity to use their gift cards. The bill seeks to address the financial loss that so many people experience. The government accepts that a lot of retailers will, in good faith, accept gift cards a little while after their expiry date, but some do not, and there is no legislation that means they have to. That is what we intend to do here: we want to make sure that this is actually legislated and that people can go with surety.

New South Wales have really taken the lead on this. They did this a little while ago. In fact I wrote to the Attorney-General at the time and suggested that we should look at it here, for South Australia. He did not progress that, and that was his choice. He was more than entitled to do that. But on our side of the chamber, we have progressed this legislation because we think it is good for consumers here in our state.

We want to have that better reform for consumers, and we do not want to add red tape for businesses—we are very conscious of that—but we think this is a great progression forward. I mentioned the previous attorney. When I wrote to him, I did suggest that we could take this to the national arena and, potentially, the consumer affairs forum; I thought that maybe he could raise it as an issue there. The good news is that that is starting to progress.

It is on the agenda for national reform. Whilst we have taken a big step forward in joining with New South Wales to have this new legislation, it would be great to get it as a national reform so that it is right across all the states. Of course, being in some states and not others does not make it ideal, but we think South Australians should benefit from good legislation like this. As I said earlier, this is a commitment that the Marshall Liberal team took to the election.

In the process, I asked the former attorney to have a look at this. That did not happen. I spoke to the federal minister involved at the time, Kelly O'Dwyer, who was very receptive to it. We can see that the progression of that has put it on the national agenda, which is, again, a real win. I look forward to pushing ahead with that.

I mentioned that New South Wales had probably been the pioneers in this space. On 31 March 2018, they announced similar reforms and brought in the three-year mandated length for gift cards. By all accounts, it is working very well over there. It really is providing a wonderful balance between the rights and obligations of consumers and businesses. So everyone is having a win, which is what we are always looking to do in this place. We want to get positive outcomes that can benefit everyone.

I mentioned a few moments ago that, due to the fact that jurisdictions must adhere to free trade, the proposed SA amendments are limited in the same manner as the New South Wales reforms with respect to online and over-the-phone purchases where the gift card is delivered to an address outside of SA and where the consumer's contact details include a residential address outside of South Australia. Again, it is great news that the federal government is looking at this as a national thing. That would alleviate some of those problems.

There have been some questions raised, and rightly so. There are a lot of cards in the market now. The emphasis I want to make with the intent of this piece of legislation is that cards that are cash are seen as exactly that. If I put it into an envelope for a lovely birthday present for you, Mr Acting Speaker—if I put $50 into a card with the intent that you go and buy yourself a nice new shirt or a tie or whatever it might be—and in three years' time you opened the card again and the money was still there, it would still be $50 in value.

When you give a card like this, with a value of $50, there is no reason that in one year and one day that value of $50 just disappears and is lost to you. That is the intent of what we are trying to do here, and I think people will appreciate that. Something that has been raised with me—and we are happy to work on this between the houses and look at this in regulation—is concepts around the other types of cards. If someone is doing a promotional voucher or has an entertainment card, how does that work in this context? That is a very fair and reasonable question, and we are happy to work between the two houses with those regulations to make sure that we can nut that out.

Fundamentally, the real purpose of this is to make sure that, if you put a cash amount into a card, the expiry date is extended to three years and you have every opportunity to be able to spend that value and not just lose it after 12 months, as is the current case.

This is a wonderful policy. It was overwhelmingly supported when I was out campaigning during the last election campaign in the lead-up to 17 March this year. When speaking about this policy with people on the doorstep—it was probably more prominent in the lead-up to Christmas, or just after Christmas, when people had realised that their card from the year before had expired—it was really well received. People thought this was a commonsense approach. With the growing value of the estimated $2.5 billion in gift cards every year in Australia, it really does make common sense.

We are moving into a more digital world and a more digital age. You can go into a supermarket now and often see these gift cards there on display. They are a great way to go and a great way to get a present for someone, whether it is a thankyou or a birthday gift or whatever it might be. You can give it to them and they can go and get the thing they need. When you are in the supermarket, you have the choice. I have seen them in there before. There are Sportsgirl or Myer or Coles cards—whatever it might be, whatever the person might want, you can just take it to the checkout and they will credit it for you, and there is the card that you can give as a gift.

People are doing it. People are doing it in droves. It is a very common thing to do. If you are giving a present and you are sending it to someone in the country, this is where it is probably getting more value. I am of an age, and I am sure the member for Lee is probably about that age, too. I am sure his nanna would always drop in $10 or $5, or if he was in luck he might have got $20 or even a $2 note. We are of that age, we could have got a $2 note or a $1 note in the card, and we would have always been appreciative of a gift like that from a family member or a grandparent. It was always exciting when you were a kid.

In this more modern age, and as the member for Lee's children get older, he will not be handing out the dollars like that, he will most likely be giving them a gift card because that is what people tend to do. They are often mailed out and people have great access to these cards. They are more and more prevalent. It is not surprising in this technological age that that is what is happening. That is why this piece of legislation really does catch up with where we are at. In this innovative world, more and more people are getting online and purchasing gift cards. You can now have the gift card emailed to someone as well. These sorts of things are more and more common and it means that this legislation is very common sense.

As I said, when I was out campaigning people were very accepting, very understanding and very supportive of us moving this forward. I am very proud to have worked with the Attorney on this. As I said, I have been pushing for this for a long time. This is going to form part of a suite of reforms that we are making in this area. It links to another piece of legislation that I have been very keen to prosecute and put forward—amend is probably the correct term—and that is ticket-scalping reforms. They will dovetail into this under the Fair Trading Act.

I have talked about technologies changing. When it comes to ticket scalping—and I do not mean to lean on the poor member for Lee because he is younger than me, but he would probably be old enough to know, as would you, Acting Deputy Speaker—in our day, it was when someone was standing outside a venue, a concert or a sporting event with a couple of tickets in their pocket and they would call you over, or so I am told. I must say that I have never had the experience, but that is the perception people have. They would sell you the ticket for the game or whatever out of their pocket and you would hand over some cash, get the tickets and in you would go.

With the advancements in technology—and that is what this legislation is doing, keeping up with it on the gift card side of things, but also on the ticket scalping side of things—the way this happens nowadays is that computers swoop up the tickets. So many tickets for concerts and events are now bought online. The person on the street, myself included—and I know my kids do this—can get online and purchase a ticket by either dialling in or logging on. You are limited to purchase so many tickets, which is to stop people buying more tickets than they need and then selling them at a profit.

What happens with these sorts of things is that technologically-minded people can get ahead of the game. I heard the deputy leader talk about the ticket bots earlier when she was speaking about this ticket-scalping concept in the fair trading bill. These ticket bots swoop in and snap up all the tickets and it is really hard for you or me or my friends, or even the member for Lee, to be able to get the tickets he needs or wants for a concert or a sporting event.

Mr Mullighan: I can't remember the last time I went out.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: You will be going to the Wiggles or something like that very soon, and you will have to get online to get those tickets.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: Frozen on Ice.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Frozen on Ice is a good one. The transport minister mentioned Frozen on Ice. Those with young children will really enjoy that. The point I make is still a very valid one. It even happens at concerts like Frozen on Ice. It is not just Adele concerts or top-end rock concerts or footy finals—it happens with Frozen as well.

What this means is that these ticket bots who swoop in and take all the tickets—meaning that the member for Lee and his young children cannot go to these concerts—will not be able to take them all and he will have a better chance of getting tickets. What they do is they swoop on the tickets, take them online and then sell them at a profit. We do not want that to happen. We will prevent that from happening.

We know that technology is moving, so we need to move our legislation with it. The Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill does just that. It means that when you get a gift card—I mention the experience because we have all had it: it expires after 12 months, it is gone, the cash is gone and you are left with pretty much a useless piece of plastic—now you will have three years, giving you a much better chance to utilise that gift card that you have received from a loving family member or someone close to you. You may even have purchased it yourself, who knows. You will now have that ability and that is fantastic and I think people will very much appreciate that. This is a wonderful piece of legislation and good for all South Australians.

I sincerely recommend it to the house and also recommend to my family and the family of the member for Lee that any chance you get, a gift card would be greatly appreciated for Father's Day or something like that and we can have three years to get ourselves a new pair of socks, which will be wonderful.

Mr MULLIGHAN (Lee) (16:34): What an unexpected pleasure it is to be able to make a contribution on this bill as the de facto lead speaker for the opposition.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Pederick): Member for Lee, can you confirm that you are the lead speaker?

Mr MULLIGHAN: Yes.

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Pederick): Members on my right will hear the member in silence.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: Is this like supply? Does this mean we can go home now?

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Pederick): No.

Mr MULLIGHAN: The member for Schubert interjects, 'Is this like supply?' Wait and see, I say to the Minister for Transport. Of course, similar circumstances push me into this position of making a contribution of a length potentially not anticipated. Of course, the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill was not indicated on the weekly program received from the Leader of Government Business, nor was it on the House Assembly's issues for the week commencing on the 29^th.

The Deputy Premier draws my attention to the daily program provided for the house for 2 o'clock this afternoon. What an enormous amount of notice the Deputy Leader gives us! Perhaps this indicates how quickly the wheels fall off the government in the absence of the Leader of Government Business who, as I am reminded by the Minister for Police, joins me and him as a parent. He will be enjoying, potentially, all those wonderful occasions that the Minister for Police was talking to us about earlier.

I rise today to say that the opposition supports the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018, and of course we would because consumer protection has for decades been a hallmark of Labor in South Australia. Of course, the watershed consumer protection acts in Australia were introduced in this place, in South Australia, by the Dunstan government—both the precursor to what we now know as the Fair Trading Act as well as the state-based Trade Practices Act.

Many of those regulatory functions over the past few decades, but particularly in the last two decades, have begun to be usurped by the federal parliament and by federal legislative instruments. Nonetheless, that does not mean there is no purview for this place and for laws that this parliament passes to provide for some level of regulation of interactions between customers and businesses in South Australia.

When the Liberal Party announced their intention to require that gift cards have a minimum three-year expiry date during the election campaign, the then attorney-general (member for Enfield) said that a national scheme was being considered. That is unsurprising given the comments I have just made about how many of these consumer laws are increasingly being made in the federal parliament, and provide that tier of government.

I am advised an offence is made under the bill introduced here where the transaction to purchase the card is in South Australia and where the business is operating in South Australia. This means that the bill does not cover gift cards purchased online from international companies without a presence in South Australia. As we have seen from media reports, even today, international retailers do provide, or choose not to provide, as the case might be, their services to Australia, which is interesting in the context of this bill. I am also advised that the bill does not cover gift cards with specified goods and services but is limited to gift cards with a monetary value that can be exchanged generally for goods and services from that particular retailer.

The Attorney-General might like to respond to those two points before the committee stage, or we could perhaps discuss that last point bit more during the committee stage. However, I do make the point that this has been, as the Minister for Police was saying earlier, a prevalent form of gift giving across many societies, particularly for a number of decades now. This will be a challenge to make sure that its application is made on the basis whereby consumers are treated equally with similar types of retailers, given the increasingly online nature of retail shopping, and ensure that recourses under the bill are appropriate, given those circumstances.

Of course, the bill fails in one very significant area for those people who perhaps would regard themselves as more of a Grinch-type gift giver, and that would be bestowing on the gift card purchaser a right of return if the gift card is not cashed in within a certain period of time. That might be something that could be considered by other more mean-spirited members of parliament other than me. With those few but salient words, I indicate the opposition's support for this bill.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (16:41): I rise today to speak on a bill that I am particularly passionate about. This is an issue that has been grinding my gears for some time, so it gives me great pleasure to rise today to support the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018 before the house today. Whilst it may be considered a minor matter by some—certainly not by me—this bill is just one of the many things that will contribute to running a more efficient and stable government, offering increased protection for consumers and forming part of a series of amendments planned to the Fair Trading Act.

The legislation is specific: to protect consumers by requiring gift cards in South Australia to have a minimum three-year expiry date. It is staggering that, according to consumer advocate group Choice, of the approximately $2.5 billion spent on gift cards every year Australians are losing about $200 million. That is about one-third that have been found to have lost their value and expired because of a lack of legal certainty in this area of consumer law.

Finding that you have run out of time to use the card is a particular consideration for consumers in regional and remote areas, as they do not have regular or ready access to stores that often offer gift cards that have grown in variety and range in recent years. It can be difficult to get to major metropolitan centres frequently when living in regional or remote South Australia, and it often results in gift cards lapsing. This law will provide a minimum expiry date for their use and, importantly, will provide consistency from retailers, reducing confusion for customers faced with a variety of time frames and expiry dates when using such cards, which are essentially the same value as cash but with terms and conditions attached.

Some cards offer five years, others as little as three months. Many do not carry a date at all, but when you go to use them they are often designated out of date because they are just a vague too old, thus effectively rendering a well-meaning relative's or friend's hard-earned money just thrown away into the bin. I wonder how many of us in this house have fibbed a little when Aunty Mary asks us the following Christmas what we bought with her gift card from the previous year knowing we had forgotten all about it by April and had assumed we had run out of time to use it. Consumers deserve to get what they have paid for without unnecessary restrictions, especially since the businesses that issued the card get to retain the cash. This legislation will protect consumers by ensuring that gift cards purchased in South Australia are required to have a minimum expiry date of three years.

I believe the across-the-board consistency will be welcomed by both consumers and retailers. It provides certainty around the rights and obligations of all parties and is already working well in New South Wales. It is important to note, too, that the proposed three-year expiry will apply to all gift cards sold in South Australia to a person residing in South Australia at the time of the purchase. I clarify that the bill will not apply to gift cards purchased online or over the phone where the gift card is to be delivered to the consumer at an address outside South Australia or where the contact details of the consumer provided in connection with the sale of the gift card include a residential address outside South Australia.

Targeted consultation will be undertaken to prescribe categories of gift cards that will be exempt from the new provisions, for example, temporary marketing promotions or vouchers supplied for charitable purposes. It is also important to highlight that this bill is intended not to apply to reward and loyalty programs or vouchers donated for charitable purposes but that exemptions for these would form part of the regulations to be drafted in consultation with business during the bill's passage. Consumer and Business Services will be responsible for the enforcement and compliance of the new laws around gift cards as proposed.

I support the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018 as I believe there is a need for reform in this area that will make gift cards more consumer-friendly and eliminate confusion around the varying rules of the myriad gift cards in the market. Most importantly, I believe the bill will reduce the financial loss experienced by consumers and offer security in the knowledge that, if the validity of their card is questioned at the shop, they will know there is a mandated minimum three-year time frame that will ensure that they can confidently stand up for their consumer rights at the point of purchase should it be necessary.

It will also be welcomed by consumers who do not want to be rushed into purchases they otherwise might not make just to be able to tell dear old Aunty Mary what they have purchased with her gift card. I also note that funding for a public education campaign in respect of these changes will be required and will be sought in a subsequent bill to address ticket scalping. I applaud the efforts of the Attorney-General and her staff on forming this bill. It will be welcomed by consumers and is not expected to have any effects on business apart from offering increased consistency of trading practices for their gift cards, which, in making them more user-friendly, is likely to increase the popularity of their use, which will bring benefits for retailers.

By legislating a three-year expiry date, we are protecting consumers from unjustifiable and unfair expiry dates and balancing this appropriately with the needs of business. This policy promotes good consumer protection reform without adding any red tape or impost on business. In fact, I note that companies like Apple and Bunnings have already taken up the practice. With that in mind, I commend this piece of legislation to the house and recommend it highly.

Mr RAU (Enfield) (16:48): I just thought I would say a few brief words on this. Any move to improve services and protections for consumers is obviously welcome, and I think that the member for Lee has explained the position being taken on this side of the house. I know that our friends at the department work very hard indeed to make sure that consumers are well looked after.

I would like to put this on the record, though. Since the advent of the national Consumer Law some years ago, when the commonwealth substantially took over the business of consumer protection across the country, we are basically left in a position where the state has a residual capacity to do anything in this space. The legislation that we are putting through now, whilst it is laudable for all the reasons everybody has spoken about, leaves us with a bit of a Swiss cheese legislative solution; that is, there are holes all the way through it. That is not our fault, that is not the fault of the current government and that is not the fault of anybody in this chamber. It is to do with the way the national arrangements for consumer affairs are presently being dealt with.

It would be ideal if there was a national solution to this so that there were not all these Swiss cheese holes running through this reform and we did not have a situation where, if the card comes from another state or if the purchase is from somewhere else or if it is online, etc., this particular reform is not going to help you. The paradox of that, of course, is that, by advocating and disseminating information to the public about this reform, which I am supporting just like everybody else is, we may be inadvertently lulling a lot of consumers out there into the mistaken impression that we are covering everything, and we are not and cannot.

I know for a fact that this issue was on the agenda for national consumer affairs ministers some time back. I have something very disturbing to report to the house. You may have seen stuff on television about the way glaciers move. It is reported that some of them move a matter of some centimetres per year and over the millennia they are capable of moving large boulders from point A to point B. This is considered quite good, but you have to work in geological time before you actually witness these marvels.

There is a lot in common between a glacier and the National Consumer Affairs Council, and I will give you one example. I became consumer affairs minister for the first time some time ago and the first thing I took to the National Consumer Affairs Council was payday lenders because people in my electorate are getting skinned alive by payday lenders. They said, 'We are going to give it absolute priority.' The years have rolled on and payday lenders have continued to ply their miserable trade in my electorate. What you do is wait for the commonwealth to extract the digit and make legislative amendments. I can tell you that that can take a great deal of time and, in fact, in my experience, it takes forever.

I want to wish the Attorney all the best in her endeavours to speed up the glacial movement of the national consumer forum because they are full of very fine intentions. They have lengthy meetings at which countless things are noted and sometimes even discussed and the agendas of those meetings roll over to the next meeting. I could spend time on the whole phenomenon of ministerial councils, but I will not burden everybody.

This one is a particularly uneventful council. I am not necessarily speaking about the current minister, whoever that might be. It used to be Kelly O'Dwyer, but I am not sure who it is now. I have seen various colours of federal ministers occupying this position and I can assure you that they are all exactly the same. The only thing they have in common is that nothing happens. Getting back to the—

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: So we're getting on with it and you are going to support our bill.

Mr RAU: I said that before, but I am making the point, and I will make it again for the Attorney, that this is fine, as far as it goes, but the point is that it does not go very far and that is not the Attorney's fault and it is not this parliament's fault. If we want to have something that is across the board and protects all consumers who have every kind of gift card, then we need these characters over there, the wise men and women from the east, to actually do something for a change. While they are at it, they could do something about payday lenders after all these years.

I would invite any of the members here, particularly the newer members, that if you have nothing better to do, although possibly you have, to get yourself a copy of the agenda for the consumer affairs ministers' meetings. Read the minutes or the reports that come out.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: The communiqué.

Mr RAU: The communiqué is always terrific because, as all of you would know, it has already been written before the meeting occurs, and usually the last two hours of the meeting have this spectacle of ministers from all around the country demonstrating the skills that they learnt or did not learn during their early years at primary school with respect to punctuation and grammar. It is fantastic!

Of course, when you get a ministerial council with eight ministers or so plus all their senior executives, and they have all turned themselves into a drafting committee for a communiqué, sometimes whole hours can be consumed with people typing up changes that are being flicked up on screens. 'No, let's move the comma there. What about a semicolon?' It is fabulous, really. It is terrific! That particular council is very good at that sort of thing—punctuation, spelling and sometimes even nuance—but unfortunately it is not very good at doing anything, so my request is, aside from working their magic with this bill, for the government to work a bit of magic with the other characters on that council and get them to actually do something.

What about payday lenders while you are at it? All these people out there are still being skinned alive by these people. The idea that you can actually borrow $100, for example, and have to pay it back in a couple of weeks with a $50 loan fee is absolutely outrageous. The only people who are doing this are people who are really up against it. It is actually legalised loansharking using as a target people who have absolutely nothing; otherwise, why would you be so crazy as to borrow $100 thinking you are going to have to pay back $150 in two weeks? How desperate do you have to be to be in that position?

These sharks are out there. They are crooks. The sooner something is done about clamping down on what they are doing the better, but I wish the Attorney well because I tried for about eight years, and I only managed to get it onto the agenda. It did not even get to the communiqué. It might have actually once got into the communiqué at the bottom, 'and we will look further into payday lending'. What a relief that was for all my constituents! Anyway, on that happy note, I obviously agree with everything the member for Lee said. I could not have said it better myself.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: 'I don't remember what he said, but I agree with what he said.'

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Pederick): Order!

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (16:57): I do not know where to start. I wish to thank the member for Enfield for his contribution to the debate; it was certainly entertaining. May I say I certainly have confidence that the Deputy Premier and Attorney-General is a strong-willed character and one who will hopefully make some headway in the matters that the member for Enfield has discussed.

I am certainly supportive of the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018, and there are many reasons for that. The first is that this is an election commitment that the government has made and part of our reform agenda, but more important than that it is a common-sense and practical solution to something that I am absolutely certain many South Australians have come across in their time.

As I am sure has been explained before now, the market for gift cards is extremely large. Federal Treasury estimated the number of gift cards sold in Australia last year to have been in the realm of 34 million, so we are not talking about a small number of gift cards. We are talking about an enormous number that circulate our country, but we of course are particularly interested in those that are sold in South Australia and those that are bought by South Australian residents. The odd part about gift cards is that the variety of expiration dates that currently exist in the market is vast.

Some gift cards can last three months, some can last nine months, some typically last around the 12-month mark, and others go beyond that, so the variety in what you receive for your dollar value can be extremely diverse. For this reason, the government wishes to introduce this bill to legislate the expiry date of gift cards with a dollar value to be extended and mandated to three years. It provides greater flexibility to consumers, protecting them from unjustifiable and unfair expiry dates, but it also balances the needs of business as well around certainty and other reasons.

This piece of legislation comes under the Fair Trading Act. It is there and designed to increase consume rights and protections, and that is exactly what this bill is designed to do. If we look at the reform that we have in mind in regard to gift cards, one of the important things is that this reform is designed to address the concerns of everyday South Australians. A number of the reforms that the Marshall Liberal government have introduced in this house, and will introduce in this house, are designed around the everyday South Australian. We are talking about reductions in the emergency services levy. We are talking about practical things that everyday South Australians understand and are affected by.

I have a fantastic electorate in Colton, one that neighbours the member for Lee's electorate and that of other members in this house, and there are several fantastic businesses that operate in the electorate. As a local, I frequent and visit those businesses regularly, as do many other constituents who live in Colton. Those businesses are like many others that produce gift cards as a way to give presents to family members or loved ones in exchange for a dollar value, or to give to other people for appropriate reasons, but having certainty around the dollar value that you purchase and then pass on to somebody else is certainly something I think is important and that South Australians believe to be important.

The Minister for Police and Emergency Services touched earlier on how popular this policy was when we were out doorknocking and campaigning during the most recent election. We talked about a number of policies that the hopeful Marshall Liberal government at that stage were looking to introduce and, as I said, the practical and common-sense reforms were those that I think stayed in the minds of South Australians more than any other.

This particular reform, amending the expiry date of gift cards to three years, was one that was very well received by people because it made sense, it was easy to understand and it was something that they wanted to see. This legislation has already been introduced in New South Wales, so there is precedence that this had already made an impact. Its introduction in other Australian jurisdictions has been positive, but it has also been introduced overseas. The US banned the expiry of gift cards back in 2009, and since that introduction they have seen a significant drop in the value of unused gift cards in the United States, so there is precedence that this does make significant impacts on the amount and the value of dollars lost by the consumer each and every year.

The minister also mentioned earlier in his remarks that nearly $2.5 billion in value nationally is lost through the expiration of unused gift cards, which is a gigantic number for hardworking South Australians, hardworking Australians, using their money to buy vouchers that they deem to represent a dollar value. But then, within a designated period of time, whether that be three months, nine months or 12 months, when somebody forgets to use that card that value, that hard-earned money, disappears just like that.

The member for Narungga talked about having to explain to his grandma how he spent his gift voucher that was perhaps unused and had disappeared, and I think there were a few jokes made. But this is an issue that exists, not just in regard to family members giving each other gift cards. I am not someone who has this happen to me very often, but I am sure that many in the chamber have often had a gift card given to them, or a gift in general, that they perhaps did not like as much as the person giving it to them might have thought they would.

With the ability to regift gift cards, which I have done myself, having that extra two or 2½ years to find the appropriate person to give that card to, someone who would value that dollar amount at that particular store, is only a positive thing for the South Australian economy as well. The regifting of unwanted cards is a positive step from this legislation, but really the key points are the added flexibility, as I have mentioned, it is common sense, it is practical, it is easily understandable and it goes to address the huge value of working South Australians' money that is lost simply through the expiry of a gift card that may be lost, or possibly because the person may not have had the need or necessity to buy something in that period that is appropriate to that gift card. It is a positive step forward.

As members have said, we certainly hope that this is an approach that other states will follow. Hopefully, we will have a nationalised approach to ensure that all gift cards are captured. This is a positive step and covers a large number of gift cards purchased and used here in South Australia each and every year. It is also important to note that business and industry has started to move in this way. A number of major retailers and smaller businesses have moved to eliminate expiry dates, full stop. A number have done so recently—some since the introduction of the legislation in New South Wales—and others are looking to get rid of expiry dates on gift cards altogether, which is a positive step for the people of South Australia and Australia to have that dollar value available if they feel the need to use the gift card.

At this point, I commend the bill to the house. It is a sensible solution to an issue that has faced everyday South Australians for a long time.

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (17:07): It is with great pleasure that I rise today to speak on this bill, the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018. I am very supportive of this piece of legislation. It was a very popular commitment we took to the last election. As we have said time and again, we will be delivering on each and every one of our commitments, so this is just another commitment we are in the process of delivering to the people of South Australia.

Like so many of our policies, this is a very practical plan. South Australians are practical people, and they like practical solutions to the concerns and problems they face, so this is a great plan to help deliver greater consumer protection and greater consumer satisfaction. Certainly in the lead-up to the election, when I was out doorknocking or giving out shopping bags at local supermarkets, at street corner meetings, and all the different activities I got up to, this was a very popular policy.

This is especially true for Newland, given that Newland is home to the Tea Tree Plaza shopping centre, which obviously is a very large shopping centre with a wide variety of different businesses with different kinds of products and so many different vouchers and gift cards that can be purchased—very popular for all sorts of things. This is one of the reasons it resonated so well with so many people.

I am certainly very much in favour of using gift cards as a gift to many people. Often it can be hard knowing what to get someone. You do not always know what they already have or what they might like, but at least you can broadly get something that you think might be of some interest. I find my dad is a very hard person to buy presents for, but he loves a good voucher, particularly for purchasing a DVD or some kind of movie. His taste in movies is somewhat odd, so he usually gets to enjoy that on his own. He very much enjoys purchasing DVDs, particularly from the $2 bins out the front of Big W or wherever else you can get those kinds of movies.

I have been a frequent receiver of gift cards, particularly in my childhood. Much of my family lives interstate and so it was much easier just to send a birthday card with a gift card in it. I used to thoroughly enjoy them; some of my favourites were for books. As I got older, I liked some of those other shops, more department stores. I did not like magazines so much, but certainly department stores where there was a bit more selection. There was a music phase, back in the day when we used to buy music physically rather than online, which seems like such a long time ago now. As I have got older, I think people also have a hard time working what to buy for me and so I remain a frequent receiver of gift cards.

One of the really big benefits I see from increasing the expiry time for gift cards is that whilst others, perhaps such as the member for Colton, need time to work out who to regift the voucher to, I usually like the voucher but usually end up misplacing it. Knowing that you have three years to find that gift card in the sock drawer or in the jumper drawer, or wherever else I have managed to leave it, is a good thing. It would certainly make my mum happy, because she often gets frustrated when I struggle to find some of these gift cards, as it would my wife because recently it took me a little while to find quite a substantial voucher, and I got into a bit of trouble for that. Having three years to find that would be very helpful. I am certainly very excited about the fact that those on the other side are supporting this and very excited that this will hopefully become law very soon.

It is a substantial problem for the country. We know that Australians lose about $200 million annually on expired gift cards, which is an extraordinary amount of money. That is almost double what we are committing to restore services to Modbury Hospital. It is an extraordinary amount of money. There is also a lot of variation in the terms and conditions of gift cards, with enormous variance in how long you have to redeem them. Some larger companies, such as Bunnings and Apple, do not have expiry dates, while others have quite short time frames. By legislating for a three-year expiry date, we are protecting consumers from unjustifiable and unfair expiry dates while balancing this appropriately with the needs of businesses by giving them certainty about exactly what it is that we are asking them to provide.

This bill forms part of a series of amendments to the Fair Trading Act, all designed to increase consumer rights and protections. It is also part of the broader government agenda of modernising regulations and reducing red tape. That is really key for us: reducing red tape. I know that just the other day when I was out meeting a number of local businesses within my electorate, we spent a good couple of hours talking about a whole range of different regulations unnecessarily imposed on them within this state. I am very proud to be part of a government that is committed to reducing red tape and really glad that this will form an important part of that.

What we are actually doing, as I have alluded to a number of times now, is protecting consumers by ensuring that gift cards have a minimum three-year expiry date. It is intended that this would not apply to reward or loyalty programs or to vouchers donated for charitable purposes. However, these exemptions would form part of the regulations to be drafted in consultation with businesses, subject to the bill's passing.

The bill is modelled on New South Wales legislation, which commenced earlier this year and which legislated for a three-year expiry date, as we are intending to do here. Consumer and Business Services will be responsible for enforcement and compliance. Note, though, that funding for a public education campaign in respect of these changes is being sought in a subsequent bill to address the very important issue of ticket scalping. The effect on business through these changes is expected to be negligible.

Given a federal constitutional guarantee, this bill does not apply to online or over-the-phone purchases where the gift card is delivered to an address outside South Australian borders or the consumer is not ordinarily a resident of South Australia. Minimum expiry dates for gift cards is listed on the agenda for the national Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand meeting. In addition, the federal government is considering adopting uniform laws to bring the country in line with the New South Wales legislation.

As a parent of young children, I certainly know that they are now starting to receive many gift cards. It would be very disappointing for them—not only my misplacing the card—if in only three or six months' time, or whatever the expiry happened to be, they realised that their gift card was no longer valid, essentially because of me. It would certainly take a lot of pressure off me by allowing more time to help find that gift card so that they can go out and purchase whatever it is they want. That said, and given that my kids do have a very short attention span, it is unlikely that I would have the time to lose one of their gift cards, as we would probably be heading out somewhere very quickly to purchase something with it.

As so many others have said today, I am very pleased to support this bill. It is a very practical measure, like so many we have committed to in government. I commend this bill to the house.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (17:17): I, too, rise to support this bill. This is an issue that I have certainly had discussions about at home, with gift cards that have been misplaced and found at a later date, and it always seems to be my fault. I guess the really tough thing, as the member for Newland just raised, is when children's gift cards are misplaced.

The difficulty for parents is that it is the parents' responsibility to understand that gift cards have an expiry date. It is not uncommon for the parent to have to honour the gift card out of their own pocket if the expiry date has been exceeded. Giving that sort of time frame is really important for parents and children, so that hopefully the responsibility can move to the child as they become old enough to understand what an expiry date is.

Personally, I am not a great shopper. I actually love when people give me a gift rather than a gift card, because it means that I do not need to go and choose a gift. So if people are thinking about a gift in 16 days' time when I turn 50—which is a bit scary for me, reaching that milestone—I would actually rather a pair of socks than a gift card. If that is out there then, please, any pair of socks, I do not mind. It is a real challenge, though, for some to work out what to get people, so I certainly understand the need for gift cards.

We often go out looking for gifts for our friends and family, and it is certainly a very difficult process to try to work out what people need and want. The gift card has been a great invention to enable the public to give something to one of their friends or family to allow them to purchase something within a range. The fact that we give it for a particular store is still giving some thought to the person about what we are giving so that it is not just a blanket $20 note in a birthday card. It is putting a little bit of thought and effort into it, trying to think of what they might like and helping to direct them to where they might like to go to make a purchase. I think it is really important.

But, again, to get to the end of an expiry period and the next day it be worthless is a very difficult thing for people to manage and understand, because it is frustrating to have that card go from a value of $50 to nothing overnight. I think it is a great thing that the commitment was made by the Marshall government to put this in place and I am glad we are doing this. I think it is something we need to work forward.

I must admit, though, that one of my great pleasures in life was receiving my birthday and Christmas money from my grandfather. After my grandmother died, he never bought Christmas presents but he wanted to give something to the family members. He went to enormous effort to do this. He would go to the bank and order brand-new banknotes for all the family. He would give them a list. His children would get a $100 note, his grandchildren would get a $50 note and his great-grandchildren would get a $20 note. He would break it up into the categories, give the form across to the teller and ask for brand-new notes. It was a really nice thought and that was his effort. He did not have the option of gift cards. Gift cards would probably have been an easier option for him but banknotes were the precursor.

As we move away from cash, as cash is becoming much less common, we need to move towards something else we can manage. To me, gift cards are certainly a great alternative, but we need to make sure that the value is there for a long enough time for people to use that value. Shopping is a very interesting thing for people to do. It is certainly not my forte by any means. I have other family members who love shopping, particularly on my wife's side of the family. It is not just my wife but other family members around her who also love shopping—her sister and her mother, for instance. They go out shopping on a regular basis.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: We should have a shorter expiry on the credit cards.

Mr BASHAM: It might be very helpful in some circumstances but I would not like to say it is a necessity. They very much enjoy it and shopping is a wonderful pastime for many people. To me, gift cards give the opportunity for shoppers to enjoy that experience as a gift from someone else. They also allow you to use the value of the gift card alongside whatever you want to top it up with. I think there are many opportunities for us to go down that path to see what we can do. As a dairy farmer, if someone gave me a gift card to buy a new tractor, for example, I would have been out there the next day.

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

Mr BASHAM: It would be a lovely gift card to get the gift of a new tractor, but you cannot expect that sort of thing to come. The size of the gift card should not really matter. Whether there is an expiry date of the next day or three months—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

Mr BASHAM: Yes, the cards themselves are definitely the same size but the amounts can vary, so it is very much about how we can make it fairer for people as they do their shopping. The variety of gift cards out there is now enormous. We are seeing gift cards not just for general stores but also gift cards that go from store to store, and we are seeing gift cards that can be used for a variety of businesses. There are many options out there now. The shopping process is enjoyable to a lot of people.

I guess the thing I would like to see, as people think about my birthday present, and as mentioned before, is that maybe socks are not the only option out there—

Mr Teague: A tractor.

Mr BASHAM: As the member for Heysen says, a tractor would be lovely. Even though I am not farming anymore, I would be more than happy with a new tractor for my birthday. That would be great. I would really enjoy getting a brand-new tractor for my birthday, but I do not expect it, member for Heysen.

The variety of things out there that we can buy, and the variety of the ways we can buy them, is enormous, and we have to keep up with the changes that are occurring in the practice of these transactions. This is what this bill is doing, making sure we are keeping up with the changes occurring in the way shopping takes place. We have seen the tap-and-go method for shopping, so cash is slowly disappearing. Cash is certainly not going to be a common way of handing on a gift to a family member or friend.

An honourable member: More's the pity.

Mr BASHAM: It is more's the pity. Cash is a lovely way to transact. It is nice to have the readies in your wallet, but the convenience of tap and go makes it much easier for businesses, so we have to manage that going forward. As cash is slowly disappearing, we are seeing a complete change in the way people choose to do their shopping as well. It is not just going into the store, and that is where we might see these online shops still accepting gift cards out there, finding a method to do that as well. We have to make sure that we continually think about the changes in our shopping habits going forward to make sure that our life habits are still maintained.

I go back to the great enjoyment some people get in shopping. To go out and buy a gift for someone is a wonderful thing, but the difficulty of choosing something someone actually wants is really tough for many people. I know that my family is enormously frustrated with me because when they ask what I would like for a present my standard answer is 'nothing'. I think I have everything I want in life really: I have a lovely family around me, I have all the worldly goods I really desire around me and I do not want anything special from anyone in particular—apart from a tractor from the member for Heysen.

I certainly do not think it is something someone has to go out and rack their brains over, trying to work out what to give me. If they really want to give me a gift I am more than happy with a gift card, but having that extra time on the gift card to redeem its value means that when I get to my next year's birthday of turning 51 I will think, 'Oh, someone probably gave me a gift card last year. Maybe I should go and check the drawer where I put it to see whether it's there.' That is really what reminds me each year that I might have a gift card—that someone gives me another one.

When you get out that gift card and discover that they bought it a month before your birthday and find it has now expired is a little frustrating, so to extend it out to that three-year period is a great thing for us to do. I think there is a real opportunity for this bill to actually solve that issue and allow people to have the time needed to redeem their vouchers, their gift cards that they have, and enjoy the gift that the family member or friend has given them.

Thank you very much, Mr Acting Speaker, for the time allowed to talk on this bill. Thanks for allowing me to talk about us taking the opportunity to make this change. I commend this bill to the house and thank the house for its time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (17:30): I rise also to make a contribution on the Fair Trading (Gift Cards) Amendment Bill 2018 and say that my support for this piece of legislation is longstanding. I will explain why in relatively short detail in a moment, but I just outline that we are doing this because there is approximately $200 million annually in expired gift cards, and this is money that ends up in the hands of businesses all across the country instead of in the hands of worthy consumers across our country and our state.

There is always going to be a natural tension, I think, between consumers and businesses, and on this side of the house, whether it comes to shop trading hours, whether it comes to lower taxation or whether it comes now to protecting consumers in relation to the expiry of gift cards, we will stand up for the side of the public, and we will stand up on the side of the broader community.

I used to travel to work a reasonably long distance, and I would listen to the radio. When I was a bit younger I did listen to FM radio. I was listening to Nova FM one morning, and around 20 past six they used to have a quiz. I would listen to the people who would call in; most people, I am sure, never call in. I think at the time Jules Schiller was on the show. The topic that they were going to do a quiz on was: we will give you a suburb, and you have to tell us what federal seat that suburb is in. I very quickly deduced that there was going to be a very limited number of people who were listening to Nova at 6.20 in the morning who would know exactly where suburbs are in terms of which federal electorate.

I pulled over to the side of the road and called in to take my chances. I was wondering, because I was a little bit late, and you had to get five questions right. Caller number one was a man named Clinton, and I desperately, desperately wanted Clinton not to get the answer, not knowing how far back in the queue I was. Clinton dutifully did get the first question wrong; I was the second caller. I had to go through five questions, and I got every single one of those five questions right. Jules Schiller remarked at the time that I must be some sort of political tragic nerd. The answer is yes.

Anyway, my prize, which I went to Nova to pick up, was a $150 gift voucher to a men's salon. I was really excited by my prize. I tucked it away in my bag, really excited about the fact that I had participated in interactive radio, and forgot about it, like most people do, for a long period of time. It would have been 18 months later when I fished out this thing. I rang the people up and said, 'I won this prize on Nova a while ago, and I'm just ringing to collect.' The answer on the other end of the phone was, 'No, you only had six months to redeem this, and you haven't, so therefore no dice.'

Me being a little bit shy and retiring on the phone, I did not want to sound like I was a cheap mug, so I booked a session anyway. It is the only time I have been to that salon. But after that time I thought that I had put a lot of effort in and used some very specific, specialist knowledge, which is of use to very few people, to good use on morning FM radio, and I was incensed by the fact that time had stopped me from claiming my just rewards.

That is one example of many as to why this piece of legislation is extremely important. This salon would be captured by this legislation, and that is why it is extremely important—so that part-time, nerdy psephologists can ensure that they get the free haircut they so richly deserve for participating in radio quiz shows.

There is another side to this equation, that is, that this is going to have an impact upon businesses and small businesses, including small businesses in the electorate of Schubert, where we have small B&B operators and small tourism operators providing experiences who provide gift cards. This is going to mean that those businesses are going to have to keep on their books this outstanding liability, not for 12 months, as in the case of one business I was speaking to, but for three years.

This is going to create a very real liability that is going to sit on the balance sheet of small business right across our state for a longer period of time. They have to account for these things anyway, but they are going to have to leave them on their books for a longer period of time. This is why there is that balance and tension between protecting consumers and protecting small and large businesses. The fundamental principle that the Liberal party room came to in deciding on this policy before the election was that if somebody pays to get a potential future service they should have that service delivered—if the company gave out that gift card in good faith, the person should be able to redeem that gift card—and that three years is not such a long period of time to be able to deliver, especially for some of the more specialist experiences such as we have in the Barossa.

It is important that we protect consumers in this way, and it is important that we also ensure that people get the services that they so fairly paid for. It has always intrigued me to know where the money from the gift cards of those who do not redeem them ends up. We can all reasonably assume that it ends up in the bottom line of businesses, large and small, across the country. Again, that is why a measure like this helps to ensure that the balance is ever more perfect between business on one side and consumers on the other and that South Australians can have greater confidence that they are going to be able to redeem over a longer time frame the services that others have paid for on their behalf. As our lives get busier, it is sometimes more difficult to redeem vouchers within a short period of time. This is a very sensible measure and one that I support.

This is one of the very practical measures we took to the election, where we said that we would not back vested interest but that we would back the broader community at large. This legislation is very much in the same spirit as our desire to deregulate shop trading hours. We are not here on the side of vested interests and we are not here on the side of sectional interests; we are here on the side of the broader community. We are also here to provide, in this example as well as in shop trading hours, a level playing field.

This government does not seek to pick winners and losers. This government seeks to provide a permissive, low-cost level playing field for all businesses, and in this case we are largely talking about retail and service-driven businesses. We want to provide a level playing field for businesses to go out and compete because we know—and history has shown this time and time again—that when we put appropriate mechanisms in place to make sure that there is enough market participation to have genuine competition the system works. Again, this is an opportunity for us to provide a level playing field, a guarantee for consumers and certainty and consistency for business so that they can compete equally.

With those words, I support the bill and note the good work of the Attorney-General and also the Minister for Police, who has been a real driving force for this policy within our party room. I commend it to the house, and I look forward to it being in place so that all South Australians can get their just rewards.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Teague.

At 17:40 the house adjourned until Tuesday 5 June 2018 at 11:00.