Roy Heather: Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Roy Heather: Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:8407] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to speak to the first reading of the Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill. ACT is very pleased to support this excellent bill. 
It is always of great concern when consumers are being misled and this can be the case when a charity uses a third party to solicit donations on its behalf. According to recent media reports most individuals who donate money believe that most of their donation will be used to fund the activities of the charity concerned. What they do not realise often is that a proportion of their donation can be used to pay for the third party’s services. Although the use of third-party collectors or agencies to solicit donations is neither illegal nor dishonest it can be misleading. Amy Adams’ bill attempts to improve the transparency of these transactions and ensure that people are aware of what happens to their donation. Mrs Adams should certainly be congratulated on this initiative. 
As others have said the legislation that is currently in place to ensure that consumers are not misled is the Fair Trading Act. Mrs Adams’ bill will add provisions to the Fair Trading Act’s unfair practices section that will require charities to disclose the portion of the donation to be kept by the collector when that portion is over 20 percent. Other speakers have already mentioned the thresholds. 
As Minister of Consumer Affairs I have initiated a project called One Law—One Door which is a simplification programme for consumer law with a goal of principle-based consumer supplier legislation that will see rationalisation of the 12 consumer laws that currently exist. Carol Beaumont might think this is nothing but in fact I spoke to a group of stakeholders last week and they signalled that this programme was the most significant thing that had happened in consumer law for quite some time—indeed for many years. Clearly Labour members do not think that regulatory form and having legislation that is clear enforced and enforceable is important at all but I assure them that it is. 
The Fair Trading Act of course is the pivotal legislation in my One Law—One Door project. For this reason the introduction of Mrs Adams’ amendment bill is very timely. The long-term view is for an enhanced Fair Trading Act that incorporates as many of the aspects of other consumer legislation as possible as well as additional enforcement tools that have been identified. That is something it seems to me that the Labour Party talks about quite often. 
Together with Mrs Adams we have discussed the interface between One Law—One Door and this amendment bill. Our conclusion is that there is merit in the proposed bill being absorbed into the One Law—One Door project and considered within the new approach to consumer law. So that should satisfy Mr Prasad’s concern that this bill is not a Government bill. In fact it is a very good initiative from Mrs Adams and will be incorporated by the Government. 
ACT supports the Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill to progress to the Commerce Committee with a view to it becoming part of the One Law—One Door review after the public submission process is complete. The ACT Party not only supports this bill but commends Amy Adams for her work in ensuring that consumers are well informed and that charitable giving is transparent. Thank you.