Shanks Katrina: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shanks Katrina: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12576. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to speak in the first reading of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill tonight. First I acknowledge Dr Jackie Blue who has put forward this member’s bill. I think it is fantastic when we have support from all parties for a bill that is practical. Everybody sees that the gap in the legislation can be easily fixed through Parliament bringing in a little legislation. It is a small bill but it makes a big difference for the people whom it affects. 
It is also great that the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill is being referred to the select committee that I sit on the Commerce Committee. We are a busy hard-working select committee but I am sure that we will find time for this bill. I will be interested to hear what submitters have to say about this bill and about the other bills to do with consumer guarantees that are coming before our select committee and which we are working on. 
The thing about this bill is that it affects many young people in our society. Over 280000 online trades are made a week and over a million are made in a month. I am a parent like many of the people who are out there listening to the debate tonight and our kids go on TradeMe continually. They are continually trawling trying to find that bargain and trading their Pokemon cards or bits of Lego. They deal with professional traders and with other kids who just want to trade a Pokemon card and like many parents out there I drive around the city dropping off Pokemon cards in other people’s letterboxes. It would be cheaper for me to buy the cards brand new but it is all in the spirit of TradeMe to trade and to teach children the value of the money they have. 
There is a loophole on TradeMe in terms of professional traders. If we go on TradeMe and opt for the “buy now” option we are currently protected by the Consumer Guarantees Act. 
The other option on TradeMe is to go through an auction. My children are often lucky enough to win the auction. They sit there until the last second pushing in the last dollar another dollar and another dollar even as their parents sit there freaking out at the dollars going up and up and up. [ 
Interruption 
] They are buying Pokemon cards; the most expensive Pokemon cards ever I have to say. If young people are lucky enough to win the auction they are not protected at all. When it concerns a non-professional trader I think that is fine because it is in the spirit of TradeMe. But when it concerns professional traders this legislation will change the situation to ensure the Consumer Guarantees Act will apply to those traders. 
I also put out a challenge to any school teachers listening especially in the Wellington area. This is great legislation to engage young people on. Young people trade on TradeMe so this legislation would be great to do a bit of a study on in social studies classes. Teachers cover governance in their social studies classes especially in year 10. That could show young people how they can make an impact by coming in and being a submitter to a select committee on something that they are interested in and that impacts on their lives. They could see how the process works. 
My challenge is to school teachers and to any children who are listening or watching—they should be going to bed as it is 10 past 8; my children should be in bed—to come along and make a submission to our select committee. This bill affects them because TradeMe affects them. We have a very robust select committee process. Young people could come in have their say and see how our process works. They could see the outcome from coming in and giving a submission with their friends or as a class project. We would love to see them at the Commerce Committee. 
The other area that this bill affects is extended warranties. I might go with my children to buy an iPod. The shop assistant says to get an extended warranty for 5 years because if something happens we have this warranty and will be so much better off. If customers scratch the screen they will be able to bring in the iPod and the retailer will see whether they are covered. Actually in many cases customers should be covered under the warranty that they already have without having to buy an additional warranty. The salesperson will now have to tell customers that so they will know it when they go into the shop and that is a really good thing. 
The other thing is that there will be a cooling-off period with regard to the extended warranty. If customers get all excited in the shop when buying an iPod and purchase an extended warranty and they then go home and their parents say that the extended warranty cost $60 more than they were told about there is a cooling-off period so that customers can go and do something about it. 
It is my pleasure to speak in the first reading of this bill this evening. Thank you.