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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-13 Daily Xml
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SECOND-HAND DEALERS AND PAWNBROKERS LEGISLATION

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (16:50): First of all I would like to thank minister Foley and his office, particularly his adviser Matthew Walton, for organising a briefing for me with a constituent and with Jeff Hack, Rob Malone and Paul Dickson from SAPOL. The reason for the briefing was to discuss some of the negotiations and discussions that are going on with regard to the new second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers legislation that I understand has been under some discussion for quite some time.

The concern that was raised with me by a constituent—who is a sole second-hand goods dealer—was that he saw some of the proposals under this legislation as being very difficult for him as a sole operator. Overall, I think that some really good changes will take place should this legislation pass through parliament. First of all, there will be two classifications: one will be for traditional second-hand dealers and prawn brokers who trade in the areas of jewellery, electrical goods, electronic games, electoral tools, etc. There will be a class 2 'prescribed goods', which covers goods like those sold by auto dismantlers and marine dealers, as well as caravans, trailers, bicycles and musical instruments.

Then there is a 'non-regulated goods' area, such as furniture, antique furniture, clothing, books and most scrap metal items. In saying all that, it seems like the main aim for updating and modernising this legislation is to try to address the problem that we have in the community of goods, particularly class 1 prescribed goods which are those that may be stolen. They are easily transportable and, quite often, they are stolen and need to be traced, and the legislation is seeking to try to tighten up that area.

It is interesting that what is being proposed is that this responsibility move from the South Australia Police (SAPOL) and become part of the responsibility of Consumer and Business Services. Very briefly, the constituent who has been to see me represents a number of sole operators, not in the prawn-broking area but in the second-hand goods area (and, as I said, buying and selling class 1 prescribed goods), and he is saying that he thinks that some of these provisions may make it very difficult for him to continue in this area.

He has identified that he thinks that there is unfair competition because garage sales, eBay sales, swap meets and fairs will be exempted under this legislation. He sees major problems for sole or small operators because the fees, he believes, are going to be very difficult for operators to pay. I understand that it is being proposed that operators would pay an application fee of $310. They would then go through a fit and proper person test, and, should they be successful and be deemed to be that fit and proper person, they would pay an annual fee of $415. Certainly, the constituents I have spoken to in this area see this as being very high.

They are particularly concerned about the 100 points of identification from the person who is selling the goods to the dealer. They are also really concerned about the paperwork and the new transaction management scheme that has been proposed by consumer and business affairs.

They claim—although I am not sure that this is something that I would argue very strongly—that there needs to be more consultation, particularly for sole operators that are not pawn brokers, because only 1,500 out of the 2,000 operators have been consulted. Some 500 letters, apparently, were returned to the team that are working on this area.

I would particularly like to acknowledge, as I said, Jeff Hack, Rob Malone and Paul Dickson from SAPOL. I apologise to them that I do not have their ranks in my head, but they have done a fantastic job, I believe, in being accessible and certainly answering all the calls that I have had on behalf of constituents. Under that regime, I congratulate minister Foley as the Minister for Police in this area.

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