Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 21 June 2018.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (12:44): I rise today to indicate Labor's support for this bill as proposed to be amended. South Australia is called the Festival State for a very good reason. We have world renowned events and festivals that are the envy of other states and, indeed, the rest of the world. Many of them are largely thanks to the great stewardship of Labor for the last 16 years, and the absolutely remarkable efforts of the most recent minister responsible for many of these events, the member for Mawson, Leon Bignell. We are renowned around the world. When former minister Leon Bignell was overseas, he called himself a minister because that is what he was at the time. South Australia and the people—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Order from the Liberal front bench. The member has a right to be heard in silence. Leader of the Opposition, please continue.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: South Australians, and the people who come to these events from all over the world, should be free to enjoy these festivals and events without being gouged by ticket prices. We want to ensure events are accessible to as many people as possible and not put out of reach by ticket scalpers driving up ticket prices. Labor supports the bill as proposed to be amended because it puts in place a regime that will protect ticket purchasers.

I note the government has filed amendments on the bill. They are based on amendments that were proposed by and negotiated with the member for Reynell in another place and I am pleased the government has seen sense to take some of these very sensible amendments on board. I pay tribute to the marvellous work of the member for Reynell in another place in regard to her negotiation with the government to make this a better bill.

I note, however, that the ticket purchase cap has been removed because the government does not think it is necessary, and I am sure the government will explain exactly why they think that is the case. I know that one of the amendments inserts a review clause similar to the one agreed to in this chamber yesterday for gift cards, but I am sure the Treasurer will explain in great detail why the government does not think a ticket purchase cap is necessary. I am sure the Treasurer will indicate whether that cap will form part of the review. With those few words, I indicate our general support for the bill.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (12:46): I rise with great pleasure to welcome the Fair Trading (Ticket Scalping) Amendment Bill. The council would be well aware that I have raised the issue of ticket scalping many a time. Indeed, the ticket resale industry is worth billions and a lot of money is at stake. When a lot of money is at stake, opportunists often seek opportunities to gouge. Ticket scalping has become a scourge of the industry, particularly in this online world. It is something that the CEO of Ticketmaster equated to an airline fart. He stated:

The on-sale process is like a mysteriously devastating aeroplane farter. Tickets leak out little bits at a time. Nobody can figure out where they are coming from and the whole thing reeks.

The industry itself has been crying out for fit-for-purpose legislation. I find it extraordinary that the previous speaker would even mention the member for Mawson in his contribution debate. This was a member who did not believe that ticket scalping was an issue, possibly because he had not often had to buy his own tickets to events, and who was forced into compromises on declaring major events around the AFL finals series in this state, usually under duress, and who oversaw a Major Events Act that pretended to have ticket scalping provisions but, indeed, provided cold comfort for consumers, performers, promoters and athletes alike.

When you could walk across the road from Adelaide Oval in a declared zone prohibiting ticket scalping and just on the other side of King William Road ticket scalping could go on unabated, or when you could make complaint after complaint, as my office did, about extraordinary levels of tickets being scalped even under the very minimal provisions that were afforded under the Major Events Act once it was declared, and they were not followed up by the office of consumer and business affairs, you did not actually have a fit-for-purpose piece of legislation that took ticket scalping seriously.

This legislation does take ticket scalping seriously, and I commend the government for bringing it forward. I wish to particularly thank both ministers that I have had conversations with in regard to this—minister Wingard and, indeed, the Attorney-General—and also those who have provided advice: Cara Knight, Damian Allison and Ingo Block variously from the department and ministerial offices. I acknowledge the commitments that have been made by Dini Soulio in terms of ensuring, as this government will do, that additional resources will be provided. I am sure many organisations have made submissions. Certainly, Live Performance Australia made submissions that this needs to be taken seriously and enforced.

The only question that I have at this point is an example that I would like to raise for the government to address specifically because it is not just the face price of a ticket; it is the gouging booking fees and how that will be addressed. One example that was given was that there was $900 being charged for Adele tickets but when the consumer bought that—and clearly that ticket price itself would fall foul of this legislation—at the final moment of pressing the button, a booking charge of an additional $900 was placed on that ticket as that consumer booked it.

So how will this legislation deal with those booking fees and hidden charges that may not necessarily be the face value themselves is my simple question for the government. We look forward to a strong committee process. We note that the government has gone out and properly consulted on this and we thank them for that. I also welcome the fact that there will be a review. Every bill like this should be reviewed and I hope that it will not be the job of the opposition or the crossbench to start inserting those review provisions into these pieces of legislation as they come forward.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (12:51): The purpose of this bill is to address the issue of ticket scalping, that is, the resale of tickets for an event for a profit. The bill proposes to do this by putting a limit on the amount that tickets can be resold for, and also limiting the number of tickets that a person can purchase. From what I understand, ticket scalping has existed for many years; however, it has become more and more of a problem in the past decade.

In the eighties and nineties, if people wanted to make a profit from reselling tickets, they needed to put in some legwork. For big events, scalpers would need to line up in order to secure a number of tickets in person from the ticket agent. In order to resell them, they had to advertise them in publications such as the Trading Post or stand out in front of the event in the hope of connecting with a fan who had been unable to secure tickets prior.

However, with the emergence of the internet, the ticket scalping game has changed dramatically. Most scalpers utilise bots to purchase mass quantities of tickets and then use online ticket resale platforms, such as Viagogo, to on-sell them, usually for a profit. This practice has meant that many true fans miss out on tickets simply because there are not enough to go around. It is virtually impossible to beat the bot software and regular punters often do not stand a chance to purchase tickets. As a result, scalpers are delivered a market which is desperate for tickets, a commodity they possess, and are free to sell them for an exorbitant profit.

It has been argued that one of the reasons ticket scalping occurs is because promoters and artists do not provide enough product for the demand; that is to say, that there are often only a limited number of concerts performed by artists who are very popular and, therefore, only a certain number of tickets available. If more performances were put on, then demand would be lessened as would the marketplace for ticket scalpers. However, for promoters, it is risky to put on too many shows. It is far more profitable to offer a limited run of a show and sell out rather than hold several shows which have a lesser attendance per performance. The latter option may even cost the promoter money if not enough tickets are sold. Venues which are at a higher capacity also provide a better atmosphere for attendees.

Ticket scalping has now become such a big issue that it has become an entire industry unto itself. The New York Times estimated that 60 per cent of tickets are bought by scalpers and the resale industry is worth a whopping $8 billion per annum. There are websites and companies which have been established solely for the purpose of providing a platform to resell tickets. In fact, Ticketek, one of Australia’s biggest ticket agents, established their own resale site. This move indicates that Ticketek are indifferent to the issue of scalping and regard scalping as part of the process for big ticket events.

America has gone down the line of prohibiting people from bypassing security measures put in place by ticket agents, and this has had the effect of making the practice of what the bots do illegal. I understand this has gone some way to stemming the tide of ticket scalping. I would be interested to hear if the government considered similar legislation here and, if so, why they chose to go down the path of a price cap instead? I commend the government on this bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.

Sitting suspended from 12:55 to 14:15.