Roy Heather: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Roy Heather: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11423] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. This bill amends the Motor Vehicle Sales Act the purpose of which is to promote and to protect consumers’ interests in relation to motor vehicle sales. The Act promotes an environment in which consumers can make informed decisions with confidence. It makes vehicle traders accountable and it provides consumers with redress through the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal. I am pleased to progress this bill which aims to further improve the Act’s operation and its ability to achieve its goals. I acknowledge the consideration that the Commerce Committee has given this bill and I also thank those who made written and oral submissions. 
The policy that underpins the principal Act has several key elements: a requirement for motor vehicle traders to be registered requirements for information disclosure to consumers concerning used motor vehicles and a provision for consumer redress through the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal. Section 163 of the Act required a review within 2 years of its commencement. This review was undertaken by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. It identified areas where the Act’s operation would benefit from amendment. The review report which was tabled in the House in March 2006 was followed by further consultation on the review’s recommendations. That process has lead to the amendments set out in this bill. 
The bill will remove several unnecessary compliance costs for motor vehicle traders and consumers. This amendment is in line with the Government’s tackling of regulatory obstacles as promoted by both the ACT Party and the National Party. The bill will reduce compliance associated with the renewal of annual registration by motor vehicle traders. At present an individual who applies to become a director or a motor vehicle trading company must supply a statutory declaration with his or her initial application. The individual is then required to provide each year a statutory declaration as part of the registration renewal process. This requirement is onerous and costly and serves no purpose if a person’s details have not changed. It is particularly an onerous requirement on overseas-based company directors. The bill amends the renewal procedure to allow a company’s secretary to confirm to the registrar that the information held on the registry about the company and its directors is correct. As well the bill provides that overseas-based directors will also face reduced costs as they will effectively be able to self-certify that they are eligible to be persons involved in the management of a motor vehicle trading company. 
The bill removes requirements for private sellers at car markets to display a consumer information notice. This amendment will reduce risk of confusion between private sellers and buyers as to their responsibilities and rights. It also removes a compliance cost on private sellers. The requirement for car market operators—that is those providing premises or Internet facilities for car sales—to be registered as motor vehicles traders has also been removed. Car market operators are providing a place for the sales transaction to occur; they are not motor vehicle traders involved in the sales process. The bill also removes the requirement for transactions between traders or between traders and wreckers to have a consumer information notice displayed. There is no reason for people conducting transactions between professionals in this industry to be provided with information that is designed to assist consumer decision-making. 
I am very pleased to be able to tell the House that the bill offers increased consumer protections which is important. These protections include increasing the financial limit at which consumer claims may be heard by the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal from $50000 now to $100000. This increase means that the majority of consumers can have their issues heard in the expert forum of the tribunal. This change also future-proofs the claims limit and provides protection to consumers who purchase high-end vehicles. Currently regardless of their financial means consumers can still have difficulty in gaining redress from a motor vehicle trader. The bill allows the tribunal to award costs for non-attendance of either party to the dispute. This will create an incentive for both parties to turn up to hearings—something that is currently a bit problematic. Currently costs can be awarded against the consumer but not against the trader. For a consumer considerable compliance costs may be associated with attending a hearing that has to be postponed because of a trader’s non-attendance. 
The bill will also allow for the publication of all the tribunal’s decisions. Publication of all decisions will provide consumers and traders with insights as to what kinds of claims will be upheld and under what circumstances. Currently only claims that go against traders are able to be published. Beneficially the consumer advocacy groups which do such vital work in the community will also be better informed and able to pass the knowledge gained from disputes rulings on to their clients. Publication also means that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and enforcement agencies will be better positioned to assess the effectiveness of the tribunal and to monitor for any systematic issues within the industry. 
The bill will close a loophole where the automatic banning of a trader from future trading as a motor vehicle dealer cannot be applied to a person who is unregistered or has a lapsed registration at the time of his or her conviction or bankruptcy. Currently such people can continue to trade in motor vehicles until the registrar can take a case to court to ban them which may take some months. The Motor Vehicle Sales Act is predicated on a fairly light-handed registration regime supported by enforcement. Effective banning provisions are an important element of this enforcement. 
I note the amendments of the bill recommended by the Commerce Committee. I understand that the submissions provided to the committee were useful and again I thank those individuals and groups who took the time to make a contribution. Legislation can have a difficult time keeping up with the twists and turns of new technology and the Internet age. I am therefore pleased to note that these amendments will clarify some areas of the Act—in particular confirming that the consumer information notice must be displayed by a motor vehicle trader when a motor vehicle may be purchased through an online website facility. This will mean that consumers who may be thinking about purchasing a motor vehicle online will have access to accurate information about the motor vehicle and information on their consumer rights. 
Debate interrupted.