Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:47): I note that in the lunch break the member for Schubert advised that he has also had some experience with crowd-surfing.

I might add that the performance peak sporting bodies and event organisers do all they can to ensure that the prices of tickets are affordable because they want genuine fans to be able to enjoy their events and only pay the price advertised. Instead, quite often they watch in dismay as resellers grab these tickets, jack up the price and pretend they are about to sell out.

This process completely destroys the trust with the public because many times these organisations are not-for-profit, especially the sporting ones, so it is beholden on us to try to find a solution. Oftentimes we see the situation where games are notionally sold out, only to see a good number of empty seats that have been purchased by these scalpers.

From a player's and entertainer's perspective, they love nothing more than playing to a packed stadium. They understand full well that the long-term success of their act or their sport relies upon engaged audiences, especially the younger generation—and especially in sport, because they are the future of that sport. Peak bodies realise this and try to ensure that seats are made available at affordable prices for families.

Many times you will see kids going there just to get the autograph of their sporting hero after the game, so we need to foster this. Stopping scalping will only encourage it. I have had the opportunity to play in front of packed stadiums of 90,000 people. It is a buzz for the players as well. Athletes want to perform in front of people who truly appreciate their skills. There is nothing better than having both teams of a contest being supported and hearing the barracking going on, rather than just a sterile environment where people are not there. This really is about trying to ensure that people are able to attend these major events.

The Major Events Act 2013 could have given protection to consumers, as section 9 of that act prohibits the sale or offering for sale of tickets in a controlled area for a major event and, in any other case, prohibits the sale or offering for sale of tickets to a major event at a price that exceeds the original price by more than 10 per cent. However, this protection for consumers relies on an event being declared a major event by the government. For events that are not so declared, no protection is given to the public from ticket scalpers.

It was even revealed in 2017 that not one person had been prosecuted for selling tickets at inflated prices under the Major Events Act 2013. Unfortunately, the Major Events Act 2013 also does not address the technological advances since its original passage, including the aforementioned ticket bots that purchase tickets online faster than a person can. Legislative changes are therefore required to address these limitations and, at the same time, increase overall consumer protection with respect to ticket scalping here in South Australia.

Under the Major Events Act, the government needs to declare an event as a major event, as I mentioned, so we will repeal section 9 of the Major Events Act and, rather, amend the Fair Trading Act so that the laws apply to any event in South Australia that is subject to resale restrictions. We will prohibit the advertising or hosting of advertising of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent of the tickets' original price in addition to capping the total resale price to 110 per cent of the total acquisition price. We will require that any resale advertisement includes specific details, such as the original cost and seating arrangements.

The bill will seek to outlaw software, such as ticket bots, which contravenes the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets. The bill will also seek to increase the number of compliance officers for enforcement of minor breaches. Expiable offences will also be introduced to enable quick and effective enforcement of minor breaches without having to pursue costly court action. This will also act as an effective deterrent for others. There will also be a provision for a small public education campaign about the changes to these ticket-scalping laws.

This bill therefore broadens the scope of the legislation so that ticket-scalping provisions apply to any sporting or entertainment event in South Australia that is subject to a resale restriction. Event organisers, via their resale restriction, are effectively putting restrictions in place for their event because they know that it will be a popular event and that therefore ticket scalping could consequently eventuate. Quite often part of the resale conditions is that tickets can be cancelled.

The amendment to the Fair Trading Act relating to resale restrictions as a trigger removes the requirement for a government to declare an event a major event. As an example, this would draw in the previously mentioned Ed Sheeran concert and other concerts such as Adele's, AFL finals and similar crowd-pulling entertainment events. I should add that it will not affect smaller events, those events that are very worthwhile but may not have the latent consumer demand that would lead to an undersupply of tickets. Unfortunately, sometimes my forums are in this situation.

There will be a requirement that any resale advertisement must include certain information, including the original supply cost of the ticket and details of the location from which the ticketholder is authorised to view the event, including, for example, the bay number, row number or seat number of the ticket. This is particularly important, as some online resale sites utilise marketing and advertising methods to give their site pre-eminent listing in search engines such as Google, so that when consumers conduct an online search to purchase tickets for particular events, they get taken to these sites rather than the original, authentic event organiser site.

These online resale sites, once visited, then appear to the consumers as legitimate ticket sellers. However, on the resale sites tickets are often highlighted as 'only a few remaining' to provide that sense of urgency to buy at these inflated prices, when in fact the primary ticket selling site still has ample tickets available. So allowing consumers to understand what the original supply cost of the ticket is means they can understand what the differential is between the price they are buying and the price at which the event organiser provided the ticket.

The government recognises that legitimate circumstances exist where a person may want to resell their tickets and therefore there is a need for a secondary market. However, that secondary market should not be at the expense of consumer rights, because we do not want to stop families or people, who are genuine in their need to sell because another event has come up, being able to do so. While the existence of a secondary market has both a positive and a negative impact for consumers, it does provide consumers with access to tickets.

Importantly, to deal directly with bots on the internet, the bill will prohibit the use of software that enables or assists a person to circumvent the security measures. I note in closing that this reform is modelled on similar reforms that have commenced in New South Wales, and having our legislation aligned with this will hopefully give other jurisdictions throughout Australia something to aspire to in trying to overcome this issue nationwide. I commend the bill.

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:55): I rise to support the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill. The bill fulfils another Marshall government election commitment and will strengthen protections for consumers against ticket scalpers. It is important because the bill forms part of a series of amendments to the Fair Trading Act designed to increase consumer rights and protections. The current act has not addressed technological advances since its original passage, including the advent of ticket bots that purchase tickets online far faster than a person ever could. The bill will protect us, as the terms of the current act are not well defined and enforcement is currently poor.

Buying tickets is usually expensive and can be tricky and these days is often a significant financial investment for most families that I know. A personal example of this occurred last year when I purchased tickets to the cricket—Australia versus England—for my husband for his birthday. He was born in England but has lived here for 28 years, so I thought this would be a good competition for him to watch. Knowing that he loves cricket, but that he needed to give his workplace early notice of the time off during the week, I purchased the tickets a few months before.

Purchasing these tickets was problematic for me for a few reasons. First, I had very little knowledge of which type of cricket games are the most entertaining and so which one to choose; secondly, I was unsure where the good seats in the stadium were; and, thirdly, his workplace often requires a long lead time for leave applications and therefore I did not know whether he would be able to get the time off.

As it turns out, I chose tickets for the last day of a test match. I found out it is called a test match from the member for Newland. In my mind, I thought this could be an exciting point of the game. I subsequently found out, upon telling my husband about this, it was very risky because the game could even be over on that day. This was a worry, given the tickets I bought were a big financial outlay for our family at the time. Furthermore, this gift was made even more worrisome when my husband's employer said that they could not commit to granting leave.

Because so much was up in the air, I emailed the seller to ask if I could have a credit and instead purchase tickets to a sporting event on a weekend. They said the tickets could not be changed and that this was covered somewhere in the terms and conditions, which I did not really have time to read because I was campaigning. This is my most recent example of purchasing event tickets. It was a big outlay for our family. We do not do this very often because we like to go to events together and that usually adds up to a lot of money.

Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, I have heard from other members that the former government did not see this ticket cost as an issue. From my conversations in my community I imagine that purchasing tickets for events is a significant outlay for most families these days. In my electorate, the cost of living has been raised as a major issue for a number of years now, which is one of the key reasons I chose to put my hand up and represent my electorate on the platform of lower costs, better services and more jobs for South Australians. Every day I am so proud to be part of this new government as we announce delivery after delivery of our commitments and the ongoing focus on real change for South Australia.

In other examples, I have heard of people purchasing tickets for AFL matches from people they thought were legitimate people who could not attend the match, only to find out that the tickets did not work for them at the gate. Imagine how disappointed a family would be. Similar incidents have occurred where people have purchased tickets to AFL games only to find that the person who sold them the resell tickets hiked up the price by 50 per cent or more from the original price they paid for the ticket. I am told incidents like this have occurred regularly for AFL finals matches and AFL grand finals, and this is very concerning and, I am sure, very disappointing for everyone involved.

I have heard of other incidents with the cricket where people have resold tickets that are supposed to be only in that person's or that member's name, and then incidents have occurred at the gates for the people who have purchased the resold tickets. Imagine buying a present for someone for their birthday and then it ends up this way on the day. It would be incredibly disappointing. I urge people who are purchasing resold tickets to sporting events to do their research, be cautious and do not purchase resold tickets from people they do not know to avoid being taken for a ride.

The outlay on tickets to events is a big deal for most everyday South Australians. More and more a ticket to a large concert or an established act is a luxury purchase for most people I know. I have not personally attended a music concert for a very long while now for this reason. My son loves Taylor Swift, and when I was researching the cost of her tickets recently I saw that it was reported that Taylor Swift's recent world tour had seats that started from $60 and went upwards of $1,300 each near the stage. Imagine taking a family to that. The Star reported:

At Swift's upcoming Toronto shows in August, the closest seats are in small supply on the secondary market. Less then 10 tickets were available in the standing area near the stage and each was listed for an asking price of $1,200 to $4,200 on the reseller SeatGeek.

Imagine explaining to your child that you had to be miles away from the front because you could not afford that sort of expense.

Therefore, I support the measures to protect South Australians from unscrupulous ticket scalpers. Let's face it, dodgy ticket resellers or scalpers need to be stopped. People who hike up the price like crazy are just taking advantage of people. Buying a ticket from a scalper, whether in person, online or over the phone, carries risks. The ticket may not be genuine or may not be provided at all. Of particular interest in this new bill is clause 37F(2):

A ticket resale advertisement must not specify an amount for the sale of the ticket that exceeds 110% of the original supply cost of the ticket.

Further, clause 37F(3) provides:

A ticket resale advertisement must specify the following particulars:

(a) the original supply cost of the ticket;

(b) details of the location from which the ticket holder is authorised to view the event (including, for example, any bay number, row number and seat number for the ticket).

Clause 37G—Restriction on ticket resale profit provides:

A person must not sell a ticket to any other person for an amount that exceeds 110% of the original supply cost of the ticket.

Maximum penalty:

(a) in the case of a body corporate—$100 000;

(b) in the case of a natural person—$20 000.

Expiation fee: $550.

This is not small change in any way and is a deterrent to unscrupulous behaviour. I am pleased to support this bill to protect South Australians and make more tickets accessible to more South Australians.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (16:03): I rise today to speak on the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2018, which addresses an important issue that I believe many have or will likely deal with at some point in their life. As I am sure many honourable members know, this is an issue that one could argue is as old as time, in that there are always people who seek to gain from the desperation and unfortunate circumstances of others. This is simply a more specific example of this age-old practice of profiting from others who do not have the luxury of choice—a bit dramatic, I know, but in the case of unfair profiteering I believe that such drama is quite apt.

At its core, this bill will form part of a series of amendments to the Fair Trading Act, which are all intended to promote and grow South Australian consumers' rights and to ensure that these rights are subsequently protected. It is unfortunate that such amendments must be made, as one would assume that this issue would have been addressed in previous years. However, it is the case that the current act does not address the new technical avenues that people now use to achieve their wicked results.

The introduction of ticket bots is a prime example of this point, as they are used to purchase multiple tickets in a much shorter span of time than any person possibly could. This results in ticket sales closing mere minutes, if not less, after opening the public purchase. How can we sit back and watch this kind of exploitation of the system that is supposed to make obtaining these tickets a fair process?

I am sure everyone can understand or recall the feeling at some point in their lives of having something they so desperately wanted disappear before their eyes. To then have that feeling followed by the helplessness of knowing you will have to pay considerably more—in a staggering number of cases over 110 per cent more—than you initially planned for the chance to attend the concert, sporting event, festival and so on that you have been thinking and dreaming about is quite honestly crushing for those in this position.

It is not fair to the honest individuals who just want to purchase a ticket. The present vague and undefined terms of the act need to be addressed and subsequently enforced to avoid consumers suffering a much larger purchase price than they should have to pay just so someone can sit back and profit from their poor luck. This is why this government is pushing for all events taking place in South Australia to be subject to resale restrictions that cap the total resale price at 110 per cent of the total acquisition price. Likewise, including such details as original sale price and seating arrangements in advertising will be essential as part of this bill so as to provide awareness of the options available to the public purchasing these tickets.

The implementation of a small public education campaign about these changes to scalping laws will also help to achieve a broader awareness and understanding of the rights that consumers have when dealing with ticket scalpers and their sales. Outlawing the aforementioned software like ticket bots is also essential to this process of achieving better protections for these consumers, as they currently flout the terms and conditions of the websites used to sell these tickets.

Most websites will in fact actively place warnings against the use of such software on the very pages used to purchase tickets online. Likewise, they impose that only a set number of tickets may be obtained per purchase. This, however, does not hinder the progress of ticket bots, hence the need for such measures in this bill. It is my hope that outlawing this software will not only decrease the number of tickets being circulated by ticket scalpers at elevated prices but also increase the rate of consumers actually purchasing their tickets through these websites at the original asking price and not having to hand over an unnecessarily large amount of money to scalpers who might be using this software.

An interesting point I would like to add is that consumers are already attempting to circumvent ticket scalpers and the possibility of missing out by buying tickets up to 12 months in advance for slightly elevated prices and seats that may not be very well positioned. It seems an absolute farce that these consumers feel that they must, as a rule, pay more than usual for tickets that do not offer them the best seats so that they may avoid paying even more for tickets closer to the event or risk missing out entirely.

It is also important to note that there will be recognition for legitimate circumstances whereby an individual may need to resell their tickets. For example, someone might fall ill, find themselves needing to attend another engagement or possibly even find themselves outside the state at the time of the event, creating a need for a secondary market. After all, what is the point of implementing laws to better the experience and chances of consumers attending a desired event if unexpectedly available seats are not then accessible to people as they arise?

It seems senseless that South Australia must strive to implement legislation that has already been introduced to, and functioned positively in, other Australian states. It is very hard in my opinion to argue with the terms of this bill when they have been largely modelled on legislation passed in New South Wales earlier this year. Why would we oppose amendments that allow people to avoid exploitation while simultaneously addressing the new technological advancements that make such reprehensible acts possible?

Considering how frequently these tickets are purchased as gifts for family and friends in the hope of bringing these individuals' wishes to life, it seems irresponsible to allow the current act to continue in this vein. For the younger consumers who are likely in possession of vastly less money than most, it would be devastating to face the prospect of forking out extra cash that they may not actually have, or alternatively missing out altogether.

South Australia has begun to host more and more large-scale events like concerts, as the member for Colton mentioned earlier, for Adele, Ed Sheeran, Queen, and major sporting events like semifinals and preliminary final AFL games that were sold-out events. With such events as these providing equally large fan bases of people wanting to attend, the implementation of this bill is vitally important to the continued protection of consumers with an interest in attendance at events that attract business for our tourism industry and the general consumer industry of South Australia as a whole.

It is my hope that honourable members can see why this bill is of such importance to the people of South Australia and that they can do the right thing and put this bill through, as it would be an unnecessary evil for the current legislation to continue and for the consumers of South Australia to suffer any further exploitation by ticket scalpers. That is why I commend the bill to the house.

Mr DULUK (Waite) (16:11): I also rise to make a contribution on the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2018. Once again, it is good to be in the house speaking on an issue where the government is delivering on its election promises. In the lead-up to the election, one of the items of policy that we said we would introduce in our first 100 days was of course this bill. It goes on the back of some of the other bills we have been talking about this week in relation to consumer protection, which is very important.

As I said, this is an election commitment to strengthen protections for consumers against ticket scalpers. I am sure almost everyone in this chamber has been subject at some time to a ticket scalper either unknowingly or absolutely voluntarily. In my case, when I wanted to go to the Ashes in 2005 in the United Kingdom, I was very fortunate to get tickets through a ballot for the Edgbaston test match, which was the test match where Ricky Ponting won the toss on a very dreary, wet day and elected to bowl.

In the warm-up for that match, Glenn McGrath rolled his ankle, so Australia went into the second test of the series without him. I think Michael Vaughan made a brilliant century on that opening day at Edgbaston. That was also the test match that we know Australia lost by three runs on the last day. There was that scene where Freddie Flintoff was shaking the hand of Brett Lee. It was one of those great sporting moments, but I digress. After Edgbaston, we went to Manchester. I was doing my 2005 post-uni trip. I did not have any tickets for the Manchester test match, and I was very keen to—

Ms Luethen interjecting:

Mr DULUK: Exactly. The member for King obviously loves her cricket like I do. We rolled up to Manchester without any tickets, and that was probably the first time I had an experience with ticket scalpers. As someone who loves cricket, I obliged and have no doubt that I paid more than 110 per cent of the face value of the tickets. Being my luck, day one was almost a washout, as it inevitably is in Manchester, so that was a lot to pay, but we went back for days two and three and probably had the same bloke scalping tickets outside the gates at Old Trafford.

It was a most enjoyable test match. Day four was washed out again, and the game ended up being a draw. Australia, of course, then went on to lose the final test at The Oval, and we lost the Ashes in that series in 2005. Almost every member of the English team received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for their efforts in regaining the Ashes for England. That was my first experience of price scalping. I thought, 'This is very unjust.' If only the grounds in the United Kingdom had greater capacity—

Mr Mullighan: You would have got us home in that test.

Mr DULUK: I also could have made a duck.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You could have had an OBE, member for Waite.

Mr DULUK: I could have had an OBE, sir. Of course, when price scalping gets out of control, it is punters, fans and families who inevitably miss out to corporate greed. I think that any government that can do its best to protect the consumer for the greater good of the enjoyment of the many in terms of sporting events is very exciting. Some of my friends faced the issue of ticket scalping at the 2017 AFL Grand Final. I think many of my friends who paid exorbitant prices wish there was a refund policy on ticket scalping.

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone: Wrong result.

Mr DULUK: It was the wrong result. They are some of the issues that mums and dads in the street, the general public, face when there is price gouging of this type. The new Marshall Liberal government is looking to fix up an area where the previous government failed, in particular the former responsible minister for this legislation, the member for Mawson. He effectively created a bit of a toothless tiger in what was then the Major Events Act 2013. With our bill, we hope that events such as the Big Bash, with the fantastically popular Strikers, and the Showdown can be protected under this legislation.

The current law only applies to the rare occasion when a major event has been formally declared and, even then, there has been no serious attempt to enforce that law, as I said previously. So this measure is pretty important. The prevalence of ticket scalping denies fair access to tickets for members of the public who love sporting events and live entertainment. The South Australian public, in my view, deserve more effective protection in this practice.

That is why this bill seeks to modernise ticket-scalping legislation to reflect the present day reality of how people purchase tickets, such as, obviously, online. Going back to the Crows making the grand final last year, there was a division between some members of the public who are not tech-savvy who had to line up at Ticketek, BASS or Ticketmaster, competing for tickets at the same time as they could be purchased by the online mechanism.

I think the last thing we ever want to do, especially in terms of sporting events, is see lifelong dedicated members who go week in, week out—whether it be Crows, Port, Central District Football Club or whatever their sport is—be denied the opportunity to watch the teams they love on the most important days in the sporting calendars. Whether it is the Ashes, cricket, football, concerts or whatever the occasion, we want the South Australian public to be able to enjoy it live just like they do on any other week of the year.

This bill forms part of a series of amendments to the Fair Trading Act designed to increase consumer rights and protections. As I said, the current act does not address technological advances since the original passage back in 2014, including what is now the advent of ticket bots that purchase tickets online far faster than a person ever could. As many members have said in their contributions, people spent hours waiting to buy tickets to the Adele and Ed Sheeran concerts. They logged into their accounts the minute the tickets were due to go on sale, only to find that the ticket allocation was exhausted. It is not fair to the consumer that bots are able to take tickets this quickly.

I do not believe in the big arm of government. I do not believe in overregulation, but I do believe in a fair playing field for all. Once again, it is about a regulated product. Attendance at sporting events, the sale of liquor, cigarettes and gaming products are all regulated events and products that society deems that government has an obligation to regulate. It is important, as I have been saying and will continue to say and always will champion in this house, for families and mum-and-dad punters in the street to be able to enjoy concerts, sport or whatever they like. It would be great if we had this problem when we were buying opera tickets or tickets to the symphony orchestra as well, but they do not seem to have this issue as much as other events.

All too often fans log onto a ticketing website only to find that, as soon as tickets go on sale, those words 'allocation exhausted' are displayed. These disappointed fans are then shocked when they find out that there are plenty of tickets available on resale sites but for a grossly inflated price. Some of those inflated prices are in line with the Zimbabwe rates of inflation. It is certainly worrying to a lot of people that you can normally get a ticket to the AFL Grand Final for a couple of hundred bucks and all of a sudden it is on there for a couple of thousand dollars and you think you are in Harare. Adele tickets, for example, recently were selling at 700 times their value. I am not sure what the true worth of Adele tickets are. One would argue that it is whatever the market pays and so it is.

Mr Pederick: She can sing.

Mr DULUK: She certainly can sing, member for Hammond, but with the Adele concerts that were recently in Australia and South Australia, within minutes of the tickets going on sale, resale sites were selling tickets for $5,000 when the highest retail price then was $308 for a premium ticket. After the tickets went on sale, viagogo had 140,000 searches for Adele tickets.

Because the Ed Sheeran concert in Adelaide earlier in the year was not declared a major event, tickets were being sold at double the retail price. B reserve originally was priced at $104.50 and was being resold on viagogo for $266. C reserve was originally priced at $73.95 and was being resold on Gumtree for $190. A reserve, originally priced at $165.90, was being sold on Gumtree for $250.

Another major issue, apart from the increased price, is that the tickets sold on viagogo are not always legitimate. For the WA Ed Sheeran concerts, 173 of the 194 tickets found to be fake were sold by viagogo. Of course, there is an obligation, no doubt, of buyer beware. As a buyer, if you are going on these sites, a fair degree of public caution is always required, but I suppose it is for us as legislators to ensure that we make sure that individuals are responsible for their own actions.

If they are prepared to go on these type of sites to purchase these tickets, there is a bit of buyer beware and there is no point complaining too much after you go down that path, but at the same time, as I have said, we have an obligation to ensure that mums and dads in the street from suburbia, from my electorate in Blackwood or coming down from Berri to Adelaide to go to Ed Sheeran, have just the same right, or the same opportunity, as anybody else to go to a concert.

For the first 2017 Showdown between the Crows and the Power, scalpers had swooped on the tickets and were looking to profit by up to 300 per cent on the face value of these tickets. I assume that was a Crows game and I assume that we won. In August 2017, the former government bowed to pressure and reclassified Adelaide and Port Adelaide football finals as major events, but this, I remember, was quite hotly debated and only came after our shadow at the time, the member for Chaffey, urged this to happen. He was out there protecting the interests of sports fans in Adelaide.

At the time, the then sports minister, and now member for Mawson, downplayed the problem of scalping, suggesting it was not as serious as was being reported. There are a few quotes in relation to that. I suppose what we need to address, in terms of the current act that we are looking to amend, is the definition of scalping and current enforcement, which is poor. Of course, it is always difficult to enforce things, especially within the federation and where ticketholders might be purchasing tickets from an interstate jurisdiction.

What are we doing? Under the Major Events Act, the government needs to declare an event as a major event for ticket-scalping provisions to operate. We will repeal section 9 of the Major Events Act and amend the Fair Trading Act so that the laws apply to any event in South Australia that is subject to resale restrictions. What else are we doing? We are going to prohibit the advertising or hosting of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent of the ticket price, in addition to capping the total resale price to 110 per cent of the total acquisition price, requiring that any resale advertisement includes specific details, such as the original cost and seating arrangement. I think that is something that is really important about the 'buyer beware' aspect.

If we can ensure, in terms of tickets that are being sold to South Australians—that is, from people who are reselling tickets—that the buyers know what the original face value of that ticket was and what they are receiving, because the last thing you want to do is to rock up to the last Saturday in September at the MCG and realise that you have paid $1,000 or $100 for a non-viewing standing spot in the southern stand at the MCG. If your team loses, maybe you are not too fussed by half time, but when you originally get there and you say, 'Gee, I forked out a lot of dough for this non-seating, non-viewing spot at the MCG,' it certainly is a bit of a price to pay. So ensuring that consumers have all the facts in front of them is very important.

What else are we doing under these changes? We will outlaw software, such as ticket bots, which contravenes the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets, and we will be increasing the number of compliance officers for enforcement of minor breaches. Offences will also be introduced to enable quick and effective enforcement of minor breaches without having to pursue costly court action. This will also act as an effective deterrent to others.

In terms of some of the penalties, for body corporates the maximum penalty under proposed section 37H of the act is $100,000, and for a natural person $20,000, and there is provision for on-the-spot expiation fees of $550. For failure to comply with the ticketing resale advertising provisions under proposed section 37I(1) it is the same thing: for a body corporate, a $100,000 penalty, and a penalty of $20,000 for an individual, but of course there is an on-the-spot expiation fee of $550 to ensure that a quick deterrent can be put to those who are seeking to contravene this important legislation.

The government recognises that legitimate circumstances do exist in which a person may want to resell their tickets and that therefore there should be a secondary market. For example, you might actually buy grand final tickets and then realise that your team did not make the grand final, such as the Port Adelaide Football Club. You might be a big Port supporter but then you realise they did not make the finals, so you want to resell your grand final tickets. That is completely fair enough. It is completely understandable that someone would want to do that.

You might be a Collingwood supporter and they win one or two games in a row and you think, 'Oh, they're going to win the finals. I'm going to book prelim tickets,' and then you realise that they don't make the prelim at all. They don't make the finals again. In fact, I think the only supporters who are protected by this legislation are probably Carlton supporters because they will not be back in the finals at this rate.

I think it is important that, in a case of changed circumstances such as sickness and family reasons, people who have purchased tickets in good faith to attend an event have an opportunity to resell those tickets should they not be able to make it, because that interaction is within the normal intercourse of purchasing and selling, which is obviously completely fine and to be encouraged, and that is what commerce is about.

In terms of consumer rights, there has been strong consultation with the Tourism Commission of South Australia in drafting this bill, and I understand that it is quite supportive of these changes. I believe this bill is largely modelled on legislation that passed the New South Wales parliament earlier this year. So, from a South Australian jurisdictional point of view, there is an opportunity to create uniformity within the federation.

In the time that I have left, I would like to say that this bill is part of a suite of measures around consumer protection, which we have been debating this week. It is important that it also backs onto this parliament and South Australia as a jurisdiction, changing and creating legislation that reflects the changing use by consumers, especially in regard to the interface with new technologies. We saw that last week with the passing of Carly's Law through the parliament. We beefed up the criminal intent penalties for individuals who purport to be not who they are via the use of the internet. From the consumer protection point of view, we are looking to do the same.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (16:30): I rise to speak on the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill, and I do so with great interest. This is something that I have long pursued here in South Australia, particularly in my previous role as shadow minister for sport and recreation. It showed me that the system was flawed and that scalpers could go behind a law that was flawed.

This bill is just an example of my wish, my want and this party's pledge, an election commitment to benefit the passionate people of South Australia. The member for Waite talked eloquently about his experiences at the cricket and the football. As we have all said on this side of the house, it is an experience for the majority of people to attend sports events or concerts. Any event that is a highly sought-after ticket is a highly prized event to attend.

This has become quite a topical issue in recent years, and I have been concerned for the people being exploited. Scalpers were getting away with scalping at exorbitant prices. There was also fraudulent activity; that is, there were fake tickets, and people would get to events inevitably to find paying customers in those seats. Those tickets had either been duplicated, or customers would find when they got there that there was no such thing as row X, Y or Z or seat 400.

The messages and communication I have received from enthusiastic sports fans who had been duped or scalped have come from far and wide. We have heard many examples about the exorbitant increase in prices. In some cases, people cannot get to sporting events for legitimate reasons so they want to onsell tickets, and by law they can onsell only at 110 per cent. But what really raises eyebrows is that, while scalpers were creating havoc and flouting the system, the previous minister said that it was not happening, that it was not going on and that there was no evidence that it was happening. I fronted the minister, the media and my colleagues and showed them examples of the digital capacity for people to buy a large number of tickets online and then onsell them.

Buying a large number of tickets takes away the rights of genuine sports fans who are long-serving supporters or passionate advocates for different sporting codes. It is also about going to concerts, particularly some of the music concerts—and there are too many to name—but most of those people who were approached by scalpers and who buy those scalped tickets are desperate to see their favourite son or daughter in a sporting team or on stage singing their favourite tune.

This bill will strengthen protections for consumers. It is about consumer protection and it is long overdue. The buck has been passed for a long time, particularly with respect to who is responsible, whether it was actually happening, whether there has been enough policing around it happening and making sure that the websites responsible take them down and not ignoring the complaints and the plight of people who have experienced the scourge of scalping. Of course, dealing with digitised ticket purchasing, online systems and the ticket bots buying copious numbers of tickets is a fact of life these days. I know that some of them are buying a quota every day, and in some cases that quota is hundreds of tickets.

Under the Major Events Act, the government needs to declare that an event is a major event for the ticket scalper provisions to be operative. Too often promoters and government decided they would not declare events major events because there are more criteria and a bit more effort has to go into an event that has been declared major—that is, security has to be beefed up and traffic conditions have to be altered. There is also an expense involved, so promoters and government tend not to do that. However, on this side we have heard about and we have seen what scalping is doing to our passionate sporting event goers and concertgoers, so we are going to act. I think it is a good outcome.

Importantly, the bill will prohibit the advertising or the hosting of advertising of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent of the original ticket price in addition to capping the total resale price at 110 per cent of the total acquisition price. It also requires that any resale advertisement includes specific details, such as the original cost and seating arrangements. It will also outlaw software such as ticket bots, which I have mentioned and which contravene the terms and conditions of websites that sell these tickets.

The previous government failed to enforce the ticket-scalping laws under the Major Events Act. Declaring an event a major event does come with a cost. However, I think it was ignorance and, in some cases, arrogance when some were claiming that it was not happening when it was happening as plain as is the nose on a person's face. Also, there will be an increase in the number of compliance officers for the enforcement of minor breaches, and expiable offences will be introduced to enable quick and effective enforcement of minor breaches without having to pursue costly court action. There is nothing like a cash deterrent because cash hurts the hip pocket. A fine will certainly deter some. I guess once the law has been amended and made compliant and effective, we will see much less ticket scalping going on.

Ticket scalping is a scourge on the enthusiast. We have to be fair. Do I say that this bill will rid us of ticket scalping 100 per cent? Probably not, but we have raised our hand and said that we are going to protect consumers, because we are listening to those consumers. We are listening to the people who have been impacted for such a long, long time. I know that the member for Waite has related some of his experiences in terms of the test cricket and the footy. I remember as a young fellow, which is not that long ago, really—

Mr Teague: Pretty much right now.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —yes, as a teenager, not that long ago—going to a concert and being approached by scalpers. It really did amaze me. I did not buy it, but the person standing behind me did and bought it at great cost.

It is important that we do not penalise people who genuinely want to resell their tickets. As I said, there are genuine excuses for people who cannot attend or, for one reason or another, have seen fit not to go to the event they have purchased the ticket for, so they will onsell, but there are criteria. We know that Australia's major sporting bodies do not oppose the onselling of tickets at face value where there is valid reason. There are many bona fide purchasers who intend to use the tickets but, as I said, have a genuine reason not to attend.

Previously, the only protections from ticket scalping came, as I said, through the Major Events Act 2013. However, we have consistently seen those events sold out and we have seen the scalpers do what they do, exploiting people who are enthusiastic attendees. More importantly, it is those people who are desperate to attend events who are, sadly, somewhat vulnerable.

One of the events that I recall in my role with the shadow sport portfolio was a Big Bash semifinal between the Adelaide Strikers and the Sydney Thunder. When the Twenty20 came to Adelaide Oval it was a huge event. It is a great event. It is short, sharp, shiny and great for families. I think the event was sold out in less than two hours. Sadly, those tickets were selling for five and more times the original ticket value.

Families wanting to go along to enjoy a good family event were the people who missed out. It was affordable entertainment. For those who have been to a Big Bash event, there is plenty of flame and smoke and fireworks, but there is also plenty of big bash and plenty of hard-hitting cricket. It is really intense sport for 100 minutes. These days, people are time poor and they want to go along to an event, have a great experience, get in and get out.

It was not just the sporting events that were impacted. Many of our much publicised music events have also been ransacked by scalpers. I am an Adele fan, I am not afraid to admit. She has a magnificent voice and the stage show was second to none—it was an outstanding concert. People were standing outside that concert selling tickets for five and ten times the cost of the ticket and, sadly, people were paying it. People were very keen to go into that concert and be a part of it. If they did get a ticket, rightly or wrongly, it was money well invested.

The bill will finally provide greater protection against these types of examples. As I have said, in my previous role as shadow for sport, the people I spoke to were the reason I continue to pursue the scalpers and continue to strongly advocate on behalf of consumers. I am very proud to be part of a government that is going to act to make sure that they tighten up the legislation so that they protect our enthusiastic sport fanatics and our fanatical concertgoers because these are the people who are being done over. If they have not gone into the ticket box in time or they have not gone online in time and the concerts and matches are sold out, they are then susceptible to scalpers doing their thing, increasing ticket prices by a significant amount of money.

I think these organisations will welcome the bill and the message sent to ticket scalpers that in South Australia they can no longer exploit enthusiastic and passionate fans without persecution. Without further ado, I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:44): I rise today to speak on the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill, a bill that will protect families, event organisers and music and sport enthusiasts against the scourge on society that ticket scalpers have become. This is yet another commitment that the Marshall Liberal government committed to introducing within its first 100 days of government, and I am very proud to be part of a team that has been delivering on its commitments in the first 100 days.

We were very clear, going to the election, on what we are going to deliver for South Australia and we have been ticking boxes daily to uphold those commitments. I know the people of South Australia very much appreciate a government that has indicated what it is going to do and then deliver on those commitments, and that is the government we want to be. I also commend the Attorney, who has moved quickly to introduce this legislation, and hope that it will receive support from both sides of parliament.

This legislation is long overdue. The former government truly dropped the ball on this issue. It failed to hear the complaints of thousands of South Australians who are well and truly tired of being ripped off by ticket-scalping bots, who are sick of spending hundreds of dollars on inflated ticket prices and who are sick of being turned away from events because they were sold fake tickets online. That is where this has come from.

This has been a problem for South Australian families, in particular, who want to go to events—concerts, sporting events, whatever it might be—but the ticket bots have come through and swept up all the tickets. They are then sold back online at exorbitant prices, and families invariably miss out because they cannot pay those prices. The Marshall Liberal team tried to tackle this issue from opposition in the previous parliament, and I was proud to introduce a very similar bill during the last session of parliament. I know that the Hon. Tammy Franks in the other place is a keen supporter of protecting consumers and finally putting an end to ticket scalping, and I hope those views are supported in this chamber.

Ticket scalping these days does not occur in front of a stadium, or even around the corner in a shady venue. There are fewer and fewer overcoats and less and less cash changing hands on site. The serious offenders are the online ticket-scalping bots that I mentioned a few moments ago; they buy up hundreds of tickets and try to sell them at inflated prices. For those who are unaware, that is probably the real change in the landscape now.

Technology does some wonderful things in our society. Everyone these days has a smart phone or an iPhone or something like that, and when you do get your tickets you can often just have them on your phone and scan them as you walk through. The technology is absolutely outstanding, but there are signs that people are using the technology to take advantage of others. These ticket bots are one such example of technology not being used for good. These organisations have very intricate computer programs. I am not a computer boffin, that is for sure, but I am told by the computing experts that these programs are set in place and when tickets come online, on sale, they just swoop in and buy copious amounts.

If you or I were to go online, Mr Deputy Speaker, be it on our phone or on the internet, when we get through we can generally purchase only a limited amount, three or four or whatever it might be. If you are going with a group of eight, you have to try to ring through twice or get online twice to try to get tickets together, and it is very hard to do. However these bots bypass that technology, bypass that road map if you like, and swoop through and collect a lot of tickets. They suck up all the tickets and then they go and resell them back online. Some might say it is an ingenious business model, but it is not a fair business model, and that is the problem we have here.

We think South Australians should have a fair opportunity to purchase these tickets as well. It is these bots, these systems, that we want to crack down on, when people get these tickets and go and sell them online at exorbitant prices. This bill will make it an offence to advertise a sporting or entertainment ticket for resale at a price that is more than 110 per cent of the original supply cost of the ticket; that is, the cost of the ticket plus10 per cent. One of the members on the other side, the member for Florey, raised this with me and said, 'Why are you allowing the extra 10 percent?' which is a very good and valid question.

We know there are fees and charges that go on a ticket when you purchase it, so we do not want to stop anyone who has legitimately purchased a ticket for an event but then cannot go to that event from being able to reclaim their costs. Within that 10 per cent margin, they can reclaim the cost of the fees and charges that go with purchasing a ticket. That is the reason for the extra 10 per cent, which I think everyone that I have spoken to feels is very fair and reasonable.

If you do purchase a ticket but you cannot go to an event because you are sick or have something else on, such as someone's birthday or whatever it might be, you can still sell your ticket online but at 110 per cent of the original price, with that 10 per cent extra to cover your fees and charges.

The bill also provides for substantial maximum penalties for breaches of the antiscalping laws, including a $20,000 fine for an individual and a $100,000 fine for a body corporate. These penalties will apply to both the advertisement of tickets for resale and the actual resale of tickets above original acquisition costs. That means that if you advertise the tickets online at an exorbitant price, you can be fined. If you are an individual doing it and you are trying to sell off a couple of tickets at an exorbitant price, you can be fined up to $20,000. If it is one of these ticket bot companies that is actually doing it and then putting it online, that company can be fined $100,000. I think that is a significant impost and, we hope, a strong deterrent to stop people doing this because, again, it is a scourge.

I heard that the Minister for Primary Industries, who spoke before me, is a big Adele fan. When Adele comes to town, we want South Australians to be able to go to those concerts. We want South Australian families to be able to purchase the tickets at the price that is advertised and go along to those concerts. When Adele comes to town, or any other concert or event for that matter, they set their ticket prices. Obviously, they make a profit. They are wonderfully talented artists who deserve to make profits out of their skills and talents, so they set their ticket price. It is not for someone else to come along, because they have a good technical system where they can swoop in and purchase a heap of tickets, and profiteer off that.

That is not fair, that is not right, and it is not fair on the consumer in South Australia. That is why we are bringing this law into place, and we know South Australians will very much appreciate us cracking down on this. When these concerts come to town, all South Australians should have the opportunity to go and get the tickets at the price that the artist, in this case, demands for the ticket and not the overinflated price they are forced to pay if they have to go online and some other entity has been able to swoop in, collect tickets and then profiteer off extra demand.

The Minister for Primary Industries also spoke about sporting events, and we know this happens in sporting events. As he pointed out, we do not want this happening for people who are going to the Big Bash, which is a great example. Tickets are $20 or $30 and are designed for families to be able to go to this event and enjoy it together. But, when the surge of popularity comes—if the Strikers make a final or something like that—all of a sudden people who have been going all season can no longer afford to buy tickets.

The demand rises and these operators electronically go through and purchase a whole wad of tickets and then go and sell them at an exorbitant profit online, and families miss out, and that is what is disappointing. We do not want to see that happen. Another important aspect of the bill is the ability for the minister to declare that a specified event organiser must give public notice of the total number of tickets that are to be made available by authorised sellers for general public sale. This gives a perspective of how many tickets will be out there in the market.

Again, I mentioned that when you go online and purchase tickets for a concert or a sporting event, generally you can only buy a limited number, if it were you or me, Mr Deputy Speaker. You could potentially just get enough for your family or a couple of mates, whoever is going to the event.

However, when these bots sweep through and collect all the tickets, no-one knows how many the regular public got and how many were picked up by the bots. Through the event organiser declaring how many tickets are available, the public will then know and it will be all aboveboard. Fans should know how many tickets are available to an event, which is the reason that the minister has put in these powers to enable public disclosure on ticket numbers.

This really is a great bill. As we said, we went to the election with a number of election commitments and a lot of them were hinged around cost-of-living issues, and this is just one. It is a small one, but one that is a piece in the puzzle. This bill will enable South Australians not to be gouged by ticket scalpers. Ultimately, it means that money stays in people's pockets. The Minister for Primary Industries spoke about going to a Strikers game, where tickets were advertised online. Tickets that cost $20 or $30 were advertised for $200 or more. Think about that: that is 10 games that someone could go to if they can pay $20 for the ticket as opposed to $200 for one ticket.

That really puts money back into the pockets of South Australians and gives them more cash. They can decide to go to more games or they can decide to spend the money elsewhere. But, if they are being forced to pay $200, they miss out economically. The point raised is that they can take their family. If it is $20 a ticket, they can take your whole family, have a wonderful family night out and watch the game for under the $200 they would otherwise have to pay for the ticket.

At the moment, people are profiteering out of events, concerts and sporting events. I think the member for Lee even mentioned that it could happen at a Frozen concert, which would be terrible—concerts that are put on for families, for parents and grandparents to take their kids—and to be priced out of the market because someone is profiteering in this manner really is not acceptable. As I have been involved in pushing this barrow for a long time, I am very proud that this is one of our 100-day commitments that we have before the parliament, and I hope that we get support from both sides of the house and that the bill is progressed through so that we can do everything in our power to stop the gouging and the scourge of ticket scalpers in South Australia.

As I mentioned, the government recognises that legitimate circumstances exist where people may want to resell their tickets, and therefore they need a secondary market, so we are not stopping that if people want to sell them online and that sort of thing. Technology is advancing, people can do that and that is fine, but we want to make sure that they are not selling them at that excessive price, profiteering from selling someone else's tickets or making money out from the people putting on the show.

Consumer and Business Services consulted the Tourism Commission in the drafting of this bill, which is fantastic because we wanted to make sure the Tourism Commission had a say in the way we went with this. The bill was modelled largely on legislation passed in New South Wales earlier this year, so it was great to be able to dovetail in with what they have done in New South Wales, and by all accounts they are having success there with the bill. We hope that it does send a strong message to the people out there who are doing this type of thing.

Interestingly, and I have made the point already, I note that when artists put on a concert there are a lot of things to take into account: the staging, the travel, the whole lot, and then the fee for service for their wonderful talents. They do put a price on a ticket with all that taken into account, and they put it out there and the market will decide whether or not people want to go to those concerts.

I refer to Ed Sheeran, who had a concert, I think last year (I did not get to go, but I know that my kids did), and for his concert he put an anti ticket-scalping mechanism in place, so we have an artist who is really singing from our hymn sheet—and he is a good singer, too, and he is singing very well. He sees the same problem I have been identifying here this afternoon, and clearly it happens all round the world. So, given that we have charge of our local jurisdiction, it is really important that we enact this legislation to stop the scourge of ticket scalping.

Ed Sheeran identified the problem, said that he did not want people doing this and put a few mechanisms in place. Unfortunately, I think that some tickets were reported as still being sold at higher prices, but his point is that he is putting on the concert, that he is performing for the people of the local area—in this case, he was performing for South Australians in our great state—and he wanted to make sure that his fans, and a lot of them were kids who would have saved their pocket money, worked part-time jobs or done extra work around the house or whatever it might have been, were able to afford to buy their tickets. Families and parents as well might have bought tickets for the whole family.

When the ticket-scalping machine gets going, the price skyrockets, and that just hurts families and turns families off concerts. I know that there are people out there who, when tickets go on sale, if they are all swept up really quickly, do not even think about going to the concert. They think, 'It is just too hard, I can't get online, I won't be able to get tickets,' and they almost give up before they start. Now people will have the opportunity because the gouging will not be able to happen. Also, when tickets get resold, we want to make sure that they are not fake or counterfeit tickets, and we want to make sure that the resold tickets can be used for the event they are sold for.

Having that 110 per cent leeway means that people selling tickets will be far more inclined to be genuine and legitimate ticket resellers because they are not doing it to turn a massive profit out of their tickets. We think 10 per cent is fair and reasonable and will cover any fees and charges from the purchase of the ticket. Really what we are doing is killing a black market in ticket sales so that people will genuinely know that tickets for sale online are from people legitimately selling tickets for that event.

My kids go to a lot of the festivals around town. They will book a ticket for a festival here or potentially interstate, and then something will come up and they will not be able to go. They will get a better offer from another friend or a boyfriend or a girlfriend will invite them somewhere else, so they will sell their festival ticket. Again, they can go and resell that, but at that 10 per cent margin so that they can still get their money back. Kids can spend money; if anyone has kids, they know they can spend it and spend it fast. So if they can get their money back for the ticket they have purchased, then that is a benefit.

Again, I commend this bill to the house. It is one we put forward in the last term of parliament and it was disappointing that we could not get more traction to get it through. I think South Australian families will really appreciate this. It will help with the cost of living, the burden that all South Australian families have been feeling. We know we have had the highest electricity prices in the nation, thanks to those on the other side, who left us with that burden as well, and the general cost of day-to-day living keeps pushing through the roof for families.

This is something that we think will make it easier for families to get access to tickets for concerts and sporting events. We want to keep families here in South Australia and we want to keep people here in our great state. We know young people are leaving at a rate of knots and we want to stop that, to circumvent that and start bringing them back. If you want to have a family, there is no better place in the world to have a family than right here in South Australia. Part of that is a quality of life and quality things around you, like a house and a car and a job, and wanting your family to be able to go to events like this. Having a bill like this in place is beneficial to families on a very big scale.

I commend this bill to the house because removing the scourge of ticket scalpers is something that we have talked about for a long time in this place, and to have the action here now is a very big bonus for all South Australians. I again thank the Attorney for moving this bill and I look forward to its swift passage through this house and through the upper house as well. I know that South Australians will be appreciative when we can implement this bill.

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (17:03): I, too, rise to talk to the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2018. The bill effectively repeals section 9 of the Major Events Act 2013 and makes amendments to the Fair Trading Act. The primary reason for the amendments to the Fair Trading Act is that it is administered by the Consumer and Business Services organisation or subset, more accurately, of the Attorney-General's Department. They have considerable experience in administering consumer-based transactions and, as a result, the decision has been made to enhance the act under which they operate and to use that as a vehicle through which reform will be taken.

The Hon. C.L. Wingard interjecting:

Mr MURRAY: I note for the benefit of the house that there will be no tickets on sale for the minister's shot at the basket there!

The Major Events Act was brought into effect in 2014 and had some alleged protections in place to ensure that no ticket scalping was taking place. The practical problem was that events had to be deemed or declared as major before any such protection could be brought to bear for consumers. Not surprisingly, the complete lack of capacity by the then government to do that, whether it was deliberate or not, meant that as recently as 2017 not a single person had been prosecuted for scalping tickets. Clearly, that was not working.

As I said, the intention is to instead move scalping protection out of the Major Events Act and into the fair trading regime. Ticket scalping, of course, is the purchase and resale, usually at exorbitant rates, of tickets to an event of one sort or another. We have heard all sorts of contributions today about events that members have attended and paid exorbitant prices for, so I will not belabour the point insofar as what constitutes scalping. It is interesting that ticket scalping is now facilitated through some of the major websites, particularly eBay, Gumtree, etc., and that it utilises quite sophisticated software to enable it to occur.

I also noted with considerable interest a fact given in the introductory speeches, and it has been referred to again this afternoon, that some Adele tickets were on sale for 700 times their true value, some $5,000, I think the figure was. I, too, feel the need to confess that I am something of an Adele fan; of course, she runs subject to the primacy of Cold Chisel, etc. Having said that, I could not see myself paying 700 times the face value for a ticket to go see her, nonetheless, people do.

The other important point is that there is a need for a secondary market for tickets. There will be circumstances under which people purchased tickets that have an irrevocable nature who have, by virtue of sickness, ill health or some other completely valid reason, a need to endeavour to recover their investment. In those circumstances, it is entirely appropriate that they have the ability to recover their investment.

In making these changes to the Fair Trading Act, we are not seeking to prevent people from recouping their investment, but we are putting in place a variety of measures to address some of the existing problems, as we see it, with the Major Events Act. In doing so, we provide consumers with far more enhanced capabilities vis-a-vis protection of their rights and visibility of the marketplace with regard to the tickets that are the subject of the sale.

Looking at the current issues with the Major Events Act, as detailed it relies on the minister declaring an event to be a major event. The sheer breadth of the number of events we have heard referred to today, which can be readily found on any website, means that there is an almost unlimited scope for ticket scalping. As a result, preventing it via the declaration of an event to be a major event simply fails the pub test, quite frankly. There has also been an inability to effectively enforce the current provisions.

The current provisions do not address the question of software or ticket bots. It has been a source of minor joy for me today to listen to a variety of speakers cover off the question of software bots, how they go about working and the best way to cover those. I will leave the technological discussion to others, but it is interesting to see that, essentially, the way the proposed changes will address the issue is not on the basis of any form of software but is simply by making it illegal for someone to seek to circumvent the terms and conditions on a website that is selling tickets.

In the case of a company it is a maximum penalty of $100,000 and in the case of an individual it is $20,000. It is putting in some real teeth to prevent the use of the software and to track people back at the source. The way in which the Fair Trading Act will be amended is to implement a series of resale restrictions. In so doing, it will prohibit the hosting of an advertisement for resale of tickets at anything exceeding 110 per cent of the original cost of the ticket. This is a setting that aligns with other jurisdictions interstate.

In addition, the resale advertisement has to contain items, such as the original supply cost, row numbers, bay numbers, etc., that the ticketholder needs in order to access or view the event. As discussed, software bots will be effectively banned or criminalised, or at least rendered illegal, with a maximum fine of $100,000 for corporations and $20,000 for individuals. Interestingly, the majority of the legislation makes use of expiation fees. In this case, there is an expiation fee of some $550.

The reforms not only increase the transparency available to consumers within the primary market for tickets but they also extend that transparency and protection for the resale of tickets into the secondary market on the websites and in the newspapers, as we have discussed. The intention is that, as a result, consumers will be better informed. They will have information, for example, on the number of seats available and therefore the likely demand for the ticket they are purchasing, as well as some protection vis-a-vis price.

The use of Consumer and Business Services, which currently administers the Fair Trading Act, brings with it several practical, real-world advantages, which means that this legislative change, this regime, will actually work. They currently have the systems, processes and structures, etc., in place in order to prosecute and, where necessary, advise and/or warn organisations in their current role of protecting the consumer. It therefore makes sense to have them undertake a supervisory and enforcement role in this regard.

The act makes reference to authorised officers. They are already defined under the Fair Trading Act. With the passage of this bill, those authorised officers will undertake compliance within the act itself and will also undertake whatever necessary enforcement activities are required. Additionally, they will provide advice to consumers who have questions or complaints with regard to ticket scalping. As I said earlier, a very deliberate part of the structure of the changes to the act is to enable quick and effective enforcement via the use of expiable offences. Each of the offences carries an expiation amount to enable quick and effective implementation of the enforcement of the act.

On this basis—the fact that this is an effective change that brings about real practical application of changes that will actually protect consumers, provide them with transparency and provide them with the capacity to have someone working on their side full time utilising pre-existing offices and structures and people who have those skill sets already in place—the end result is that we can expect to see for the first time in South Australia effective protection of consumers by virtue of outlawing the practice of ticket scalping. On that basis, I commend the bill to the house.

Ms HABIB (Elder) (17:15): As Bob Marley famously said in one of his songs—and I have a bad singing voice, so I will not sing it—'Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight.' That is exactly what the new Marshall Liberal government is doing, but we are not only standing up for our rights, we are standing up for the rights of all South Australians.

Imagine if we were so fortunate as to have had Bob Marley, back in his day, come to Adelaide to perform, as we have had big acts like Adele and Ed Sheeran in recent times, or imagine if we had the AFL Grand Final here in Adelaide and one of our beloved teams, the Crows or the Power, whichever one you might like, was playing. Many of us would, without a doubt, be desperate to see the show or the game.

Unfortunately, there would be a large proportion of genuine fans who, for a number of reasons, would not be able to purchase tickets as quickly as some internet pages or other consumers and might find themselves in a position where they have been offered to purchase tickets well in excess of the original ticket price. In some cases, concert or sporting tickets have been purchased and resold for twice or triple the original ticket price by ticket scalpers or outlawed ticket bots that contravene the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets.

Recognising this injustice, the Marshall Liberal team promised prior to the election that we would introduce legislation to protect people wanting to genuinely attend major events, like the Showdown, the Big Bash and music concerts, from paying massive prices to ticket scalpers. We promised to do so within our first 100 days of government, so it gives me great pleasure to rise and speak in favour of this bill, the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2018, yet another one of our election commitments being delivered when and as we promised.

This bill is absolutely crucial to increase consumer protections in relation to ticket scalping in South Australia because the current law requires an event to be declared a major event before it becomes an offence for a person to sell tickets at a price higher than 10 per cent of the face value of the ticket without the permission of the organiser. But promoters are loath to go through the expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming ordeal of getting a major event declaration, and we are not aware of a single scalper being prosecuted, despite the prevalence of this denial of fair access to tickets for members of the public who love sporting events and live entertainment.

All too often, fans log onto a ticketing website only to find that, after they press the refresh button several times after the release of tickets, the dreaded words 'allocation exhausted' are displayed. These disappointed fans—and I know I have been one of them several times—are then shocked when they find out that there are plenty of tickets available on resale sites, but for hugely inflated prices. For example, for last year's first Showdown between the Crows and the Power, scalpers had swooped on tickets and were looking to profit by up to 300 per cent on the face value of the ticket. This indeed does make a mockery of anyone's claim that scalping is not an issue.

How do scalpers obtain tickets when devoted sports and entertainment fans cannot? Increasingly, computer programs, or bots as they are called, are being used that enable scalpers to buy tickets in remarkably quick time. The use of bots allows security measures on ticketing websites to be cheated so that large numbers of tickets can be purchased. This not only blocks fans but enables scalpers to take a free ride on the backs of organisers who run the risk of staging events.

Other states have introduced measures to prevent scalping to send a clear message to these opportunists that they are not welcome. Now we, too, in South Australia are saying it is not acceptable to rip-off everyday mums and dads and people of all ages who are genuine fans and want to attend a sports game or a live concert. It is important to note, however, that the government recognises that legitimate circumstances exist in which a person may want to resell their tickets and that therefore there is a need for a secondary market. We know that there are times when people buy a ticket and, for whatever reason, something else comes up and they need to sell the ticket on. That secondary market should not be at the expense of consumer rights.

Specifically, this bill will prohibit the advertising or hosting the advertising of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent of the ticket price and cap the total resale price at 110 per cent of the total acquisition price. It will require that any resale advertisement includes specific details, such as the original costs and seating arrangements. It will also outlaw software, such as ticket bots, which contravenes the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets. This bill will also increase the number of compliance officers for enforcement of minor breaches.

These reforms will not only increase transparency within the primary market but also enhance consumer protection with respect to the resale of tickets via the secondary market. Consumers will be better able to access the availability of tickets and will have greater information available to them to make an informed decision when purchasing tickets. Nobody wants to be caught out when they think they are purchasing a ticket only to find out that the ticket does not actually exist. Quite simply, this bill will put consumers first and I commend it to the house.

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (17:22): I am very pleased to rise here today in support of this bill to amend the Fair Trading Act. Yet again, I am very pleased to be speaking on another example of how the Marshall Liberal government is delivering on those commitments that we took to the people of South Australia. I can certainly understand the novelty of this after 16 years of a Labor government where that was not the case. It was much more common to see a lot of smoke blown, distraction from various disasters and the creation of an impression of action without action actually occurring.

This is also another example of a bill that goes to protecting the interests of South Australian consumers. Ticket scalping continues to be a problem that concerns many within our own community. The current act does not address some of the technological advances in recent times since the original passage, including the advent of ticket bots that purchase tickets online much faster than people could ever do it themselves. Ticket bots are a problem overseas as well. Some data has been collected for these in the United States and the United Kingdom. In fact, Ticketmaster has said that in recent years up to 90 per cent of its traffic to its US site was bots, which reportedly recently also made five billion attempts to buy tickets on Ticketmaster at a rate of 10,000 a minute, which is really quite incredible.

The terms in the current act are not well defined, and enforcement is currently very poor. Under the Major Events Act, the government needs to declare an event as a major event for the ticket-scalping provisions to be operative. Since the act, we have not really seen any successful prosecution of people who have actually engaged in this kind of activity, despite several events where we have seen very massive increases in the price of tickets being resold. Unfortunately, the previous government did not take this issue seriously at all. In fact, they pretended that it was not an issue at all. They said that it was all hype, that no-one was really worried about this and that people only had themselves to blame, which is all very disappointing, I think.

This is just another example of the previous government failing to listen to the concerns of everyday South Australians, like so many other cases on matters such as high unemployment, really expensive power prices or Transforming Health cuts, which was a painful example of a government failing to listen to the people of South Australia in my electorate of Newland and in the electorates of King and Elder. The government also failed to take responsibility for child protection and Oakden.

They are examples of where the previous government failed to listen. By stark contrast, on this side we do listen to the concerns of South Australians. At the last election, we took a comprehensive reform agenda to the people. They elected us to government, and now we are delivering on what we promised. Our strong policy against ticket scalping is just another example of how we are listening and how we are acting.

In relation to ticket scalping, we will repeal section 9 of the Major Events Act and amend the Fair Trading Act so that that the laws apply to any event in South Australia that is subject to resale restrictions. Of course, that will not affect the small-scale events that the member for Colton mentioned earlier, such as small school plays, the local Blue Light disco or the local cheerleading showcase where little Johnny may have purchased his ticket for $2 and wants to onsell it to his grandma for $10. We will not be dealing with that. We are dealing with much larger events that are of—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Newland, if could I interrupt for a moment, please. Members, I know it is Thursday afternoon, but the member for Newland deserves to be heard in silence.

Dr HARVEY: Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. We will prohibit the advertising or hosting of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent, in addition to capping the total resale price to 110 per cent of the total acquisition price. The bill will require that any resale advertisement includes specific detail, such as the original cost and seating arrangements. It will also outlaw software, such as ticket bots, which contravene the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets.

Increasing the number of compliance officers for enforcement of minor breaches is also another important part of our plan. Offences will be introduced to enable quick and effective enforcement of minor breaches without having to pursue costly court action and will also act as an effective deterrent for others. We are also looking at a public education campaign about the changes to ticket scalping. It is worth noting that the government recognises that legitimate circumstances do exist where a person may want to resell their tickets and therefore there is a need for a secondary market. However, the secondary market should not be at the expense of consumer rights.

This bill is largely modelled on legislation passed in New South Wales earlier this year. In a perfect world, in order to catch all the events that would impact on South Australians, this would require uniform national laws, and this is one of the reasons for our bill being put forward—to align with those laws currently in effect in New South Wales.

Our first responsibility in this area is to protect consumers. At the moment, so many people in our community are struggling to afford to make ends meet, whether it be because of the cost of utilities or taxes, such as the emergency services levy, council rates and so many other things, which of course we are dealing with separately. When people want to treat themselves and enjoy some leisure time, it is simply not fair that tickets for events—whether that be an Adele or Ed Sheeran concert or any other event—be bought up quickly and then put up for resale at an exorbitant price out of the reach of so many South Australians. On this side of the house, we take seriously the protection of consumer rights.

When concerts come to South Australia, we want South Australians not to be ripped off. We have had some great events in recent times, including, as I mentioned, Adele, Ed Sheeran and AC/DC. Once upon a time, I may have attended some of these events, although in more recent years, with having young children, that has become much more difficult. Instead, I have spent much more time at the Wiggles or Disney on Ice, which are fantastic events as well. The Wiggles have been a very impressive group since 1991, and they are still going very strong despite a change in personnel. I am not aware of ticket scalping occurring for Disney on Ice or The Wiggles so far but, of course, we are a proactive government, not a reactive government, so we are going to be getting on with the job and getting on top of these issues as soon as we can.

There have been a number of reports of ticket scalping on AFL games, particularly finals. This was happening around last year's grand final, which of course affected many South Australians because the Adelaide Crows were in the grand final. This is an event which is held in Victoria, so these current laws would not have affected that, but there were also finals that were held in Adelaide, and this is something that we are dealing with.

In the present season, though, perhaps on recent form maybe these changes will not affect the current final series because our local teams may not quite get there. It is not looking good. The Crows have had a couple of shockers in recent weeks and they are no longer in the eight, and even Port Adelaide are only just hanging on by their fingertips. I think this Friday the Power are playing the Tigers, which is probably a tough game. It is here in Adelaide, so that will probably go in their favour a bit, but the Tigers are going pretty well at the moment.

On Sunday, we have the Dockers versus the Crows in Perth. It is not exactly the match of the round with ninth versus 13^th, but it is always very hard to win in Perth. You never know: there might be a really big turnaround in the success of our local teams and, as I said, because we are a proactive government, we will ensure that the rules are in place so that South Australian fans who wish to attend, at this stage hypothetical finals at the end of the year, will be able to.

In closing, scalping is a scourge perpetrated by professional predators that results in ordinary punters paying exorbitant prices to attend sporting and entertainment events. On this side, we are committed to delivering on our plans to deliver better value for consumers and, for this reason, I am very happy to commend the bill to the house.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (17:32): I did not want to miss speaking on this important legislation regarding the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill 2018. My understanding is that at this stage, unless someone wants to speak in the next couple of weeks, I am the last speaker on the bill.

An honourable member: Shame!

Mr PEDERICK: It is outrageous, I know. This bill fulfils another Marshall Liberal government election commitment to strengthen protections for consumers against ticket scalpers. We are doing this because this bill forms part of a series of amendments to the Fair Trading Act designed to increase consumer rights and protections. The current act does not address technological advances since its original passage, including the advent of ticket bots that purchase tickets online far faster than a person could. The terms in the current act are not well defined and enforcement is currently poor.

I want to relay some information regarding ticket bots. The information is about the man who invented ticket bots and he explains why you cannot get that gig ticket. The article states:

By the time shotgun-wielding FBI agents raided his office, Ken Lowson, a former insurance salesman, had become America's greatest ticket scalper.

From 2001 to 2010, according to the FBI indictment, his company, Wiseguy, had bought and resold 2.5 million tickets and made more than $25 million in profit. The kid from Arizona was living a wild life of drink, drugs and parties in Los Angeles.

He was charged with hacking and defrauding ticket sellers like Ticketmaster. The secret of his success was in the servers the FBI confiscated: computer programs, also known as ticket bots, that automate the process of buying tickets online. The bots grab all the best tickets before human buyers, and then flip them for resale on other sites.

This hyper-charged form of ticket scalping has little in common with the pre-internet era—

which I think was a much gentler era, to be frank, and it should be celebrated by those who can remember the pre-internet era, though I digress—

when men in coats sold paper tickets outside of stadiums.

'We were really good and that was probably our downfall,' Ken said. 'We just took it too far.'

I have edited here slightly. He said they made all the other guys trying to do it very angry. It continues:

'I made it too fast and too young and it got to my head.'

'We had a lot of fun, I'll say that.'

Seven years on from that FBI raid, governments and tickets sellers are still struggling to halt Ken's bot invention. The world's largest ticket seller, Ticketmaster, stopped 6 billion bot attempts last year, at a rate of more than 11,000 per minute.

What these sites rely on is that there is no government oversight. They use countries that are known as tax havens when they run these bots. The US enacted a national law outlawing bots in December 2016. There have been no prosecutions to date when this information was written. It continues:

High-profile scalping continues.

'Last I heard, the smart ones are moving to places like Gibraltar and Isle of Man and stuff like that—if they're outside of a nation state's jurisdiction, and then they're able to buy then how is a government going to go after somebody?,' [Ken]…said.

Ticketmaster [said]…that bot traffic often comes from 'Eastern Europe'.

Websites like Shows on Sale or Ticket Crusader tell members when tickets are going on sale. They claim they help 'beat the bots', but they can equally be used by scalpers with bots.

One of the top-ranked websites selling bots is registered in Panama—the tiny Caribbean country known for a canal, good beaches, and tax evasion. The website sells a range of bots for $300-$900.

A salesperson from the website said the software works in Australia and users can mask their identities with proxy IP addresses.

'The software doesn't expose your identity or anything,' the seller wrote in an email.

'We have been around for more than a decade and have been actively supporting our product more than ever.'

'No one except God can shut us.'

The seller said the software bypasses the CAPTCHA system, which generates tests that humans can pass but bots cannot (like picking out words behind squiggly lines), by using 'third party bypassing companies that type the CAPTCHAS for you'.

That is, there's a chance there's a human somewhere, possibly in India, typing numbers and letters into a CAPTCHA box so that a bot, which has been sold in Panama, and possibly launched from Eastern Europe, can buy tickets in Australia.

How were these bots invented? The article continues:

The first bots used by Ken's company were simple programs, like auto-fill, that saved his staff from filling out the same form over and over again. But he quickly saw their potential and began creating better bots. 'We started out with four computers, and as time went by, we got bigger and bigger, we got more programmers, more computers.' A single bot could open hundreds of windows and run through the process of buying a ticket simultaneously on each window. Ken would assign a 'power' to each show—a bot with 300 power meant the equivalent of 300 people buying tickets. 'Over time they were able to hit and buy 20,000 tickets in a couple of minutes,' he said.

Ken's company also shaved milliseconds off ticket buying by exploiting the lag—or latency—of data signals crossing the country. 'What we did is we spread 30 servers geographically around the country and every time sure as [heck] only one of them would get all the seats, Ken said. For example, when tickets for the 2006 Rose Bowl—the Superbowl of US college football—went on sale, Wiseguy bought 882 out of 1,000.

The FBI indictment lists other examples: In 2007, Wiseguy bought more than 11,700 Bruce Springsteen tickets, worth about $1.3 million, as well as 1,924 tickets to the New York Yankee playoffs, and 11,984 tickets to Miley Cyrus concerts. Ken claims Wiseguy 'dominated 90 per cent' of ticket sales in America. They sold tickets to other scalpers, or 'brokers', who sold directly to fans.

After the FBI raided his office, Ken and his colleagues faced 42 charges of hacking and defrauding ticket sellers. His lawyers argued his bots went through the same ticket-buying process as a human, only much faster. He had not hacked the site. Ultimately, he accepted a plea deal and stayed out of jail. 'There was never a ticket crime they could get us on, including the bots,' he said.

So he is obviously very proud of what he managed to do, ripping off not just the system but consumers to get equitable access to sports events and concerts. The article continues:

Ticketmaster is owned by Live Nation, the world's largest events company. Live Nation also owns Australian venues and festivals and manages artists…In a written statement, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said: 'Ticketmaster has always championed transparency and consumer protection within Australia, across both the primary and secondary markets. We welcome new legislation and we will continue to work with industry to ensure that tickets get directly into the hands of fans.

'In the ticketing industry, bots are often used in an attempt to unfairly purchase tickets that should always be available for fans. Ticketmaster works to combat bots every day to make ticket availability and the overall ticket buying process better. Bots violate Ticketmaster's terms of use, and are, in many cases, illegal.'

Since that article came out about the FBI chase, New South Wales has enforced its own legislation in regard to scalpers, and this is very much similar legislation. Under the Major Events Act, what happens now is that the government needs to declare an event as a major event for the ticket scalping provisions to be operative.

We will repeal section 9 of the Major Events Act and amend the Fair Trading Act so that the laws apply to any event in South Australia that is subject to resale restrictions, prohibiting the advertising or its hosting of any event where tickets are selling for over 110 per cent of the ticket price, in addition to capping the total resale price to 110 per cent of the total price and requiring that any resale advertisement includes specific details such as the original cost and seating arrangements.

We will outlaw software such as ticket bots, and I just gave a fair description of one operator which contravenes the terms and conditions of websites that sell tickets, and increase the number of compliance officers for enforcement of minor breaches. Expiable offences will also be introduced to enable quick and effective enforcement of minor breaches without having to pursue costly court action. This will also act as an effective deterrent for others. There will also be a public education campaign about the changes being made to ticket-scalping laws.

This government recognises that legitimate circumstances do exist in which a person may want to resell their tickets and that therefore there is a need for a secondary market. Things happen: people get ill, people can be called away for whatever reason and tickets may have been purchased days, weeks or months earlier. However, that secondary market should not be at the expense of consumers' rights.

In regard to the drafting of the bill, Consumer and Business Services consulted with the Tourism Commission. As I indicated, the bill is largely modelled on legislation that passed in New South Wales earlier this year. We certainly heard a lot of stories about different events that members have attended.

Mr Koutsantonis: What concerts do you like?

Mr PEDERICK: I was just about to get to that, member for West Torrens. You just about read my mind.

Mr Koutsantonis: You are an ABBA man, no doubt.

Mr PEDERICK: No, it has been mentioned in this place that I am an avid Kiss fan. I have been a Kiss follower for decades. Music like Love Gun, Beth and a whole range of songs. I tell you what, some of their best music was done in their concert in Melbourne with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. If members ever get the opportunity they should listen to Kiss with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing alongside. It is a delight.

Mr Koutsantonis: Peter Criss, know Peter Criss? What are your views? Do you want to tell us?

Mr PEDERICK: You can have your opportunity in a moment, member for West Torrens. As we have got on to concerts, I will expand. I think it was 1980 when I attended a Kiss concert here in Adelaide; it was at Memorial Drive. I took my two younger brothers, who were quite young and still at school, but I had been out of school for a couple of years.

Mr Koutsantonis: Did you have your make-up on?

Mr PEDERICK: No, I didn't have the make-up on. That was quite a concert. From what I can remember, they could not do all the act with the fire because there was too much wind, so that was a slight disappointment, but I have been to another Kiss concert here in Adelaide since then. I also saw Dire Straits at Football Park. I think they had to operate under noise restrictions, which is a little—

Mr Koutsantonis: Mick Jagger, Thebby, Oval?

Mr PEDERICK: No, I didn't do Mick. Certainly, I have had the absolute pleasure and enjoyment to attend two AC/DC concerts at Adelaide Oval—they are one band. Sadly, we are not going to hear the fullness of AC/DC certainly in its original form ever again. My family has a bit of a link to AC/DC: Bon Scott came from the same town in Scotland my grandmother's family came from—Kirriemuir in Scotland, which is the name of my family farm at Coomandook, just for a little bit of digression. They certainly make good music, but I think their second to last concert was better than the last one.

Everyone has different tastes. I was not originally going to go to the Adele concert, but I managed to get hold of a couple of tickets at the last minute. I must say that it was a one-woman show, all night, and it was absolutely fantastic. As you can see, that is a bit of a shift from AC/DC and Kiss. Obviously, these concerts are held in Adelaide, but a lot of regional people come to these concerts, and it is fantastic that we have the opportunity, no matter where they are held.

As I said, we have had plenty of functions at Memorial Drive, at the old Football Park and now at Adelaide Oval. They are going to do some protection of that beautiful lawned area they have on Adelaide Oval, that grass that is grown in my electorate at Langhorne Creek, the surface area there. That is why we are moving this legislation—so that people have equity of access and do not have to fight against bots, where it is basically impossible to get a ticket.

Take something as simple as Sounds by the River, which is a fantastic event coordinated by Deb Alexander at Mannum. They have 5,000 tickets and I kept thinking, 'I need to buy a ticket for Sounds by the River'. I went online and I was diverted to a bogus site. Thankfully, I went to one of my staff who is a bit more internet friendly than I am and said, 'This looks a bit rich.' She had a quick look around and found the tickets on the appropriate site and we got them for the appropriate price. Even things like that can catch you out because these sites are dressed up to get around people and fool them.

I would love to talk more about concerts, but I am running out of time. I commend the bill, and I hope that we see its speedy progression when we come back in a couple of weeks' time.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.

At 17:52 the house adjourned until Tuesday 19 June 2018 at 11:00.