Page 3784 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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CONSUMER AFFAIRS (AMENDMENT) BILL 1990
MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General) (10.44): Mr Speaker, I present the Consumer Affairs (Amendment) Bill 1990. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
On 15 August 1990 when I presented the Door-to-Door Trading Bill to the Assembly, I mentioned that that measure was part of a coordinated package of new and updated laws in the consumer protection field which the Alliance Government planned to introduce in this and the next sittings of the Assembly. This package will also include new uniform trade measurement legislation and fair trading legislation introduced in other States.
This present Bill is to amend the Consumer Affairs Act 1973. It is also an important part of that package. The main purpose of the Bill is to reform an advisory and product safety structure ill-fitted to post-self-government circumstances. The measure will provide this and future governments of the Territory with a body which will enable the community to have direct input to government on consumer affairs issues and policies.
The existing advisory body, the Consumer Affairs Council, and its functions were designed in part to compensate for the lack of representative government in the ACT. The arrangement which will be put in place by these amendments will enhance the advisory role of the new Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee and will remove the resulting duplication of functions which existed between the council and the government agency, the Consumer Affairs Bureau.
I take this opportunity, however, to place on record, on behalf of the ACT community, our appreciation of the work of the old council and to stress that the changes effected by the amendments contained in this Bill are not a reflection of any dissatisfaction with the work done by the council. Indeed, the former chairman of the old council, Mr Mike Vernon, has consented to participate in the new ACT Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee, and he is most welcome.
But, with self-government, it is appropriate that matters such as consumer education, consumer investigations and inquiries and executive action in respect of product safety - such matters as the banning of dangerous goods and the prescribing of safety standards in relation to products - should be in the hands of the Minister accountable to the ACT electorate and advised by the relevant public service agency, the Consumer Affairs Bureau, rather than a body of Government nominees, however well-intentioned and well-equipped they may be. It is a matter of changing the structure so that they are applicable to the ACT as a territory with its own representative and responsible government.
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