FAIR TRADING (TELEMARKETING) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 27 November 2008. Page 999.)

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (21:43): One could say that this is a fairly innocuous bill; it is certainly controversial and will probably provide quite a lot of relief to people at home who do not enjoy receiving phone calls from people pushing their products. It is a bill of some 11 clauses and, in essence, it seeks to extend the existing provisions in terms of cooling off periods for contracts relating to unsolicited door-to-door trading and to those contracts which are made by telephone. It is based on the belief that a number of people at home may be elderly or frail and may be susceptible to telemarketing sales techniques. It is a useful piece of consumer legislation which will assist people who find themselves in those circumstances.

I note the previous federal government's Do Not Call Register initiative, which at one stage was unable to keep up with demand because of the number of people trying to get themselves registered on it, and I think that demonstrates the need for this sort of thing.

A number of us have probably been caught at home by people who have been very well trained in sales tactics. They want to offer you new credit cards or phone contracts, and when you say, 'It's alright; I've already got one', they already have their line worked out to try to con you into it. I think a number of us have to resort to being rude and either hang up or become very abrupt; however, there are those in our community who have been brought up in a different generation who are perhaps not quite as assertive. There are also people from other cultures who may find themselves being taken advantage of because they happen to be rather polite. So, the Liberal Party will support this bill without any amendments. I commend the bill to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.V. Finnigan.

At 21:47 the council adjourned until Wednesday 18 February 2009 at 14:15.