Roy Heather: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Roy Heather: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12573. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to rise to speak in the first reading debate on the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill which is in the name of Dr Jackie Blue. I commend the member for bringing this very good bill to the House. 
The bill covers two issues. One is that of extended warranties as we have heard from the previous two speakers Melissa Lee and Sue Kedgley. Extended warranties were the subject of a Ministry of Consumer Affairs survey of 1000 people in 2009. It was a very good survey. The previous speaker Sue Kedgley was clearly unaware of it but it was very rigorous unlike some that the Green Party has done recently. 
The survey showed that very few New Zealanders knew about the implications of extended warranties. They did not realise that extended warranties provide customers with very little protection and certainly do not cover more than the Consumer Guarantees Act does. There are two exceptions to that: goods that are bought at auction and goods that are purchased by a tendering process. They are not covered in the same way. The protections in the Consumer Guarantees Act do not apply to them and it may well be worth considering purchasing an extended warranty. But in the main when consumers purchase goods from a retail chain store for example it is most unlikely that the purchase of an extended warranty will give any additional protection to what they already get under the Act. 
The second provision in this bill concerns online sales. The Green Party member Sue Kedgley mentioned my consumer law reform discussion document which is under way at present. It was released a few weeks ago and submissions are being called for at the moment. Written submissions will close on 31 July. Verbal submissions will be heard on 10 and 11 August. Online sales form quite a part of that discussion document under the consumer law reform project because they are a gap in the law. We heard from Melissa Lee that some purchases are covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act and others are not. Confusion exists as a result of that. 
The provisions in this bill are excellent. I am pleased to think that I am hearing from the House that Dr Jackie Blue’s bill will go to a select committee at which point she has agreed to hand over the bill to the consumer law reform process. I am delighted that she has done that because these matters will be able to be addressed at that point. 
The member who spoke before me the Green Party member Sue Kedgley mentioned that we have very weak consumer protection law in New Zealand. That in fact is not the case. Many jurisdictions look very enviously on the Consumer Guarantees Act; it is good principles-based law. New Zealanders are very well aware of the protections offered to them under the Consumer Guarantees Act. 
In the survey carried out in 2009 which I mentioned earlier 49 percent of New Zealanders were able to name the Consumer Guarantees Act and they knew in general terms of the protections that were conferred on them by the Act. They knew that if they had an issue with goods they had bought they could go back to the retailer and that they have the right to have the goods replaced or repaired or to have their money reimbursed. Those who are familiar with research will know that that was an extraordinarily good result. It shows that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs over a period of time has done a very good job of educating people as to their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. 
I am looking forward to seeing the consumer law reform submissions. I am also looking forward to hearing the oral submissions that will follow. This is a revolutionary initiative in New Zealand. We are reviewing seven pieces of legislation with the intention of rolling those into two pieces of principles-based legislation: the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Guarantees Act. That will simplify the process; it means that New Zealanders will experience less confusion about their rights when they buy goods. We are aiming to set up a very level playing field where businesses and consumers can enter the marketplace with confidence. Thank you.