HOST:
The Federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, David Bradbury, is with us, Mr Bradbury good morning.
BRADBURY:
Good morning John, how are you?
HOST:
Well indeed, thank you for joining us. Why has this new system come in? What were the deficiencies with the old way of doing things?
BRADBURY:
I think this is like so many things, we have legacy issues from the fact that we have come together from a number of colonies and formed a nation over a hundred years ago, and in so many areas our economy demands that we have a national economy. In consumer law, this has very much been the case.
What we've seen over the years have been different laws in different States and Territories across the full gamut of consumer laws. If we have a look at the area of product safety, which is a good example because under these new laws we will have, for the first time in our history a national system of product safety regulation. Prior to this system coming into effect, which will occur tomorrow, the situation was such that in some States and Territories products were banned but the same products were not banned in other States and Territories. Now, clearly the safety of a product doesn't change simply by virtue of the fact it is being sold over the border, and under this new system, we will ensure that the system that regulates the safety of products right around the country, regardless of where you are, will be uniform, providing the same protection to consumers right around the country.
HOST:
Uniformity is one thing, but are all the levels going up? In some cases, national curriculum is an example, some States worry that if it's all averaged out we could go down instead of up.
BRADBURY:
Look, that is always a concern and there has to be a balancing act that has to be struck here. The process that we've gone through in developing these national standards has required us all to have a look at the standards that are in place. In some cases when it comes to product safety, there were standards in place that related to goods that had not been identified in the market for up to 10 years. In those cases it was appropriate to rationalize the system and make sure that consistency across the States and Territories was able to occur. In the end, we are very confident that the system we will end up with as of tomorrow is a very strong one. We have greater powers in the national regulator to enforce product safety matters, and in the end, enforcement is as much a central part of the challenge for governments in trying to regulate product safety as any other, and I think that with stronger enforcement powers we will secure that.
HOST:
On the question of product safety, can you guarantee that a product that is deemed to be unsafe today in a particular jurisdiction won't be deemed safe tomorrow?
BRADBURY:
It's not a case of matters that were deemed unsafe today will be deemed safe tomorrow, it's a case of ensuring that the standards that are in place are appropriate. Full risk assessments have been undertaken in relation to matters that have been determined to come within the national system, and we are confident that the standards strike the right balance between achieving that harmonisation but also beefing up the powers of our regulators, and giving the ACCC as our national regulator the power to very strongly enforce the laws that are in place give me great confidence that we will have a system that will provide the safety that consumers expect.
HOST:
Will these new laws as well facilitate more interstate, inter territory cross border trade, particularly online and elsewhere so that it is a much simpler process to buy and sell around the country?
BRADBURY:
Well one of the great benefits of these reforms is that any business operating around Australia, that operates across State and Territory borders, at the moment, up until midnight tonight those business operators will have a series of laws - in fact we're repealing 20 different laws across the country - they would have to be conversant with all 20 of those laws in order to understand their obligations and ensure they meet them. Under the new Australian Consumer Law, they will only have to be conversant with the one national law, and that, we believe, will provide significant benefit to business in ensuring we have a more seamless national economy, which has been very much a priority of this Government. So there will be great benefits to be had, in fact the Productivity Commission estimated that the benefits of these reforms could be up to about $4.5 billion in benefits to the Australian economy.
We believe they are considerable and strike the balance between providing consumers with greater protection but also giving businesses the opportunity to more easily conduct their affairs across State and Territory borders.
HOST:
Obviously, Mr Bradbury, a lot of that is big picture stuff, which is all well and good. For the average individual consumer, when they go to the shops tomorrow, will it change things, will they suddenly find they don't need the receipt to take back the toaster that doesn't work, or is it not going to operate on those sorts of levels?
BRADBURY:
There will be some changes for consumers, but can I say, always make sure you do keep your receipt because that is an essential part of the Australian Consumer Law, that a receipt is as good a proof of purchase as any other item, so always keep your receipts.
One of the areas we're reforming is around the area of warranties and guarantees, and a lot of consumers do not appreciate the law and how it impacts on them in this area. A couple of areas where it does impact on consumers is firstly, suppliers will quite often provide an express warranty, so for example if you go and buy a plasma TV, it might be worth a couple of thousand dollars and you might get a two year guarantee. Under the Australian Consumer Law that guarantee will be required to be met, but even if you don't have a warranty of that sort, under the new Australian Consumer Law you will have some protections because all consumers should expect that when they do purchase items they will be of an acceptable quality and they will be fit for the purpose for which they were purchased. Now if you've spent several thousand dollars on a TV then a reasonable person would expect that that would be in good working order for many years into the future.
So there will be protections in place that will be clarified under these new laws, and in the end we believe that it will provide greater protection for consumers.
HOST:
Thanks very much for joining us this morning.
BRADBURY:
Thanks very much John.