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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-17 Daily Xml
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Consumer Protection

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Business Services and Consumers questions about faulty construction products.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Reported in the March/April 2015 edition of Plumbing SA were concerns in regard to faulty construction products and materials entering our market, products which are putting families and lives at risk as well as putting legitimate and compliant product suppliers at an unfair disadvantage.

Housing Industry Association building spokesperson Kristin Brookfield said that there was a lack of coordination and oversight amongst regulatory authorities, which was contributing to the problem. Ms Brookfield confirmed that consumers should never be left in a position of having to decide for themselves whether individual products are adequate and safe. She said that it is time for all levels of government to work with the industry in addressing the problems. My questions are:

1. What measures will the minister put in place to monitor noncompliant product supplies in South Australia?

2. What policy will the minister introduce to ensure better coordination amongst regulatory authorities in this area?

3. What education programs will the minister implement to ensure that all levels of government are working with the industry to address the issue of faulty products entering the market?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. The regulation around faulty and/or unsafe products is shared between federal and state, so there are a number of activities that go on at both of those levels. I should also qualify that by saying that the responsibility for the issues around regulation raised by the Hon. Jing Lee are really the responsibility of the Office of the Technical Regulator, so I am happy to refer those to the appropriate minister and bring back a response.

But, in general, in terms of some of the consumer responsibilities I have in relation to Australian consumer law, we have inspectors at a state level who offer a range of monitoring services and inspections of things such as that sales signs are not misleading. A very common one they see in the retail sector is 'no refunds' signage and, of course, those signs are incorrect.

We know that people have a warranty statute that requires all services and goods to be fit for purpose and, if they are not, then they can be returned or refunded or repaired. They do inspections randomly each year around those sorts of matters and they also look at things like sales prices that state that it is a 'half-price sale' when, in fact, it is not half price at all. They do random inspections from time to time to ensure that that sort of misleading activity does not occur. In terms of the plumbing, in relation to the regulation around particular plumbing devices and equipment, that is the responsibility of the technical regulator. As I said, I will refer that to the appropriate minister, minister Rau, and bring back a response.

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