ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS (ENERGY PRODUCTS) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 7 July 2011.)

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (16:37): I rise on behalf of the opposition to speak to the bill. This bill introduces minimum energy performance standards and labelling for gas products. It will amend and rename the Electrical Products Act and the Gas Act. The Electrical Products Act relates to safety, performance, energy efficiency and labelling of electrical products. Therefore, minimum energy performance standards are already used for other electrical products and this bill will ensure that similar standards now apply to gas products and in the future other energy products as they become more prevalent in the market.

Accordingly, the act will be renamed the Energy Products (Safety and Efficiency) Act. The Governor will be able to proclaim an extended range of products and also declare certification bodies to issue certificates of compliance under certain standards. Other aspects of the act will be brought up to date to include the broader range of energy products to include the following:

The ability of the technical regulator to issue public warnings on unsafe products and installation practices;

The obligation of traders to sell properly labelled products, in compliance with applicable energy performance standards, and accompany some of them with certain general product information.

The bill will also allow authorised officers to be appointed by the minister and to have a number of purposes, which will include:

Being able to examine certain energy products in a trader's possession;

Gather information from traders regarding the purchase or acquisition of energy products; and,

To purchase certain products back from a trader.

They are also granted powers to enter and inspect vehicles and places, take footage, take a person's personal details, seize and retain energy products, and other things.

From early on the opposition was concerned with some of the authorised officers' provisions and, in particular, the changes to self-incrimination privileges. In fact, I might add that, in my time in this place, the Hon. Graham Gunn had always been vocal about authorised officers' powers and the provisions under which they operated, and I think that is something that we should always be mindful of when we are dealing with any legislation.

The Hon. Ann Bressington has tabled some amendments, which we will be supporting. Sadly, she will not be here for the rest of this debate, and so we will not be able to conclude the debate tonight. The government has sought to remove the privilege against self-incrimination in a range of legislation—the Natural Resources Management (Review) Amendment Bill and the Safe Drinking Water Bill.

The Hon. Mitch Williams in another place questioned the need to remove privilege in this case, and we were dissatisfied with the response. The Hon. Ann Bressington's amendment will delete the proposed amendments which would compel people to give information or produce documents to an authorised officer if the officer had reasonable suspicion of them.

The removal of the privilege against self-incrimination may be justifiable where there is an imminent threat to public safety; however, this bill would remove the legal right in the investigation of any product quality assurance issues, and it is not justified on public interest grounds. Therefore, I indicate that the opposition will support the bill's main intent of aligning the gas and electricity safety and performance provisions but will not be supporting the removal of the self-incrimination privileges. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I. Hunter.