Page 4275 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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consumer protections in this space. However, the proposed measures in the motion before us today are deeply flawed and ill-conceived.
The changes proposed in the government’s motion will see a decline in the number of dealers that sell used cars in the ACT, force more cars to be sold privately, where no consumer protections exist, and drive jobs and business activity over the border into New South Wales. All that will be achieved by adhering to the purpose of the motion that is before us is that purchases of used cars will occur more often online, and more often under-the-table cash deals will be done, and regulation and compliance of the car market will be a long-forgotten space.
Gone are the days of having to wander through car lots or wait for the motoring lift-out of the Canberra Times on a Saturday morning to find a car to buy. Most people are using apps and websites such as RedBook or carsales to research and find the best car for them. These online platforms have opened up the used car market particularly, more than ever before, with dealers and private sellers competing side by side, not just in a local marketplace but in what is now a national one. Often people are buying a car from interstate, as the model, the colour or the variant that they have decided on are not available locally and they source it from across the border.
If buying a car from a dealer interstate, the purchaser is covered by the consumer protections that exist in the state or territory that the dealer is based in, as well as federal protections afforded under the Australian Consumer Law. If a buyer, however, purchases a car from a private seller, the worst outcome occurs, where there are no protections in place—no statutory warranties for the purchaser and no cooling-off periods.
If the proposed new laws as outlined in this motion were introduced, they would put local car dealers at a disadvantage as they would need to price in the warranty risk to all of the cars that they sold, making them more expensive than an identical model sold just over the border in New South Wales. It also risks driving more private-to-private sales where, as I have stated, no protection exists. These initiatives are remarkably anti-competitive and anti-consumer, all at the same time.
In our view this motion does nothing more than to highlight the determination of ACT Labor to go it alone and to ignore any nationally consistent approach to issues, particularly consumer protection. A more sensible view is to support a national approach to these protections, providing a much better outcome for consumers than the territory adopting a standalone position that is in stark contrast to what is enforced less than 15 minutes away in New South Wales.
I will go directly to what this motion is calling on the government to action, bearing in mind that this part of an ACT Labor motion usually heralds a foreshadowed legislative change that is already in the wings and being developed. The Labor Party has failed to acknowledge the work currently being undertaken by the Legislative and Governance Forum on Consumer Affairs, which consists of all commonwealth, state, territory and New Zealand ministers.
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