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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-09-08 Daily Xml
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Bills

Fair Trading (Repeal of Part 6A - Gift Cards) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 23 July 2020.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (17:16): I rise to speak on this bill and indicate the Labor opposition's support. The repeal of part 6A of the Fair Trading Act 1987 is a useful but, in the scheme of things, not particularly notable part of the government's legislative agenda. After the federal government introduced its own gift card legislation last year, the constitution effectively ended the operation of this section of state legislation.

Whilst the two sets of laws are broadly consistent in applying a three-year expiry period, the commonwealth legislation includes much higher penalties. Fines are up to $6,000 for individuals and $30,000 for companies under federal law, but the previous state provisions were only $5,000. This reflects the Liberal government's permissive approach to corporate crime and excesses; for example, their fuel pricing bill proposed expiation fees of just a few hundred dollars for breaches.

I think we can all agree that a nationally consistent approach to things like gift card legislation with meaningful penalties is preferable to different state systems that lack real deterrent value. Whilst the vast majority of businesses do the right thing, there needs to be a clear incentive to comply with the law. Honest businesses do better when others do not cut corners. As such, the opposition welcomes the federal government's new laws in this area.

Whilst we are supporting this bill, it once again shows up the government's approach to consumer affairs and other matters where there is the potential for both state and federal legislation. On a number of matters, the Attorney-General, the Premier and the government have told us that the state should not legislate on matters where the commonwealth can cover the field. When it is convenient, we apparently need to act in South Australia. When it is not convenient or does not align with an ideological bent, we apparently need to wait.

For example, this includes labour hire and payday lending schemes. In both areas, the state Liberal government thought the federal government should act to ensure national consistency before the state could do anything at their own level. On labour hire, the government took two years and three bills to get anything done. In doing so, they have trampled on workers' rights and left us with an inconsistent national approach.

On payday lending, the Attorney-General announced a review by consumer and business affairs in April after asking her federal colleagues to act over an extended period of time, apparently without success. I hope payday lending customers will not suffer the same fate as victims of serious crimes, who waited two years for the government's review into sentencing discounts before action was mooted to be taken.

The federal Liberal Party has shown time and again that it does not care for consumers, for example, rejecting on numerous occasions a royal commission into the banking sector until the banks themselves asked for one. We have seen the federal Coalition go soft on better regulation of financial advice and we continue to see constant attacks from the federal Coalition on industry super funds that provide better returns for their members.

Time and again, well connected industry groups manage to get the federal Liberals to drop any meaningful consumer protection. Whilst the federal legislation on gift cards on this occasion is welcome, it is a drop in the ocean compared to what remains to be done to protect consumers and ensure a level playing field for business.

We are disappointed that in a number of areas the state Liberal government is not acting because they are awaiting federal intervention but on gift cards they have acted even though federal intervention has now occurred. Having said that, we will, of course, support this bill because it is required now that the federal Liberal government has done something about it.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:20): I rise to speak in support of the bill, which has already been outlined in terms of its nature. It makes absolute sense to have nationally uniform and consistent laws, given our national economy and free trade across states. This is especially so in this expanding area of online and contactless shopping with companies that could be located anywhere in Australia or indeed the world. It does not make much sense to have unnecessary duplicate laws in each jurisdiction in Australia, different regimes for companies to have to adhere to in each of those jurisdictions, different terms and conditions and different complaints mechanisms for consumers to grapple with in each state and territory.

The ACCC is now charged with enforcing the national laws, which should free up some of our own valuable state consumer and business affairs resources and provide a national centralised contact point for all consumers. These laws will require all gift cards sold from 1 November to have an expiry date of no less than three years. That is something we certainly welcome. It is a move that we have welcomed previously in this place. Before these amendments, we had an issue of only having 12 months on some of these cards.

Just for the record, I will raise that, when we first dealt with this, and indeed when some regulations were passed on this recently, I flagged concerns over ATM rechargeable cards, as opposed to gift cards as such, because they were treated in a different light in terms of the expiry period that related to them. I could not see any reason why an ATM-type gift card, which is not bank issued as such so it does not come under our banking laws, would be treated any differently to a gift card from Myer, Coles, Woolworths, Dan Murphy's, or whatever the case may be.

The fact is that people spend good money on these cards and you expect they are going to have a decent life duration on them, so it makes sense that those dates be extended. Indeed, we are estimated to spend up to $2.5 billion on gift cards each year, and I have been unfortunate to have forgotten to spend the credit on a card. They have evolved from the traditional plastic cards, which emerged in the nineties and are still seen today hanging on countless supermarket shelves and at counters throughout the country, to digital gift cards and e-cards loaded onto wallet apps on our mobile phones.

Gift cards are a convenient halfway point between cash and a gift: showing some thought but leaving the eventual final choice with the gift recipient. Again, it makes absolute sense that we deal with this in a nationally consistent way, especially given how popular they are and especially given how much Australians spend on them each year, and I welcome this piece of legislation.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (17:24): I thank honourable members for their contribution to the debate.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

Bill taken through committee without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (17:26): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

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