Barker Rick: Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Barker Rick: Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14271] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Associate Minister of Justice) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Justice 
: I move  
That the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill be now read a second time 
. This bill radically reforms the legislation relating to both second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers. It is part of a package of measures being implemented by the Government to combat property crime. 
When this Government was elected in 1999 it committed itself to cracking down on burglary. For too long burglary had not been treated as a serious crime. Since then burglary cases have dropped from around 75000 cases per year to around 60000 cases per year. That is a significant improvement. Further the resolution rate for burglary has also improved from just 11 percent in 1999 to 17 percent last year. That is a huge improvement and we intend to do better. Those improvements reflect the support this Government has given to the police through record police numbers a record police budget of more than $1 billion a year and an increased police focus on burglary as a serious crime. This bill follows the Government’s recent toughening up on DNA legislation which means that DNA evidence can now be used to link suspects to burglaries and to improve further the resolution rate for those crimes. 
This bill has two main objectives—first to make it harder for criminals to dispose of stolen goods through second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers and second to make it easier for the police to recover stolen goods or solve property crimes. Both the Secondhand Dealers Act and the Pawnbrokers Act are hopelessly outdated laws. They do not reflect either the modern industries they are supposed to be regulating or the sorts of goods that are of particular interest to burglars and therefore to the police. For example the Secondhand Dealers Act still concerns itself with the disposal of fur coats and gramophones instead of computers cellphones DVD players and the like. There have been few amendments to either Act since they originally came into force. Reform is now urgently needed. 
There is currently no requirement for either second-hand dealers or pawnbrokers to verify the identity of their customers. Under the bill both second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers will be required to verify the identity of people who sell or pledge goods to them—in most cases by sighting an approved photo ID. That will make it harder for people who knowingly try to pass on stolen goods and it will assist the police in tracing where the stolen goods ending up in dealerships have come from. 
Under the bill second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers will be required to comply with various record-keeping and labelling requirements in order to keep track of the origins of goods in their possession. The Law and Order Committee recommended a number of changes to those provisions which will simplify the requirements related to record-keeping whilst ensuring that the information available to the police is of high quality. 
With regard to retention requirements the bill replaces the outdated list of furs suits and gramophones with a new and more generalised list of second-hand goods that must be retained for 14 days. That list includes items that are frequently targeted by burglars such as compact discs computers cameras and so on. The definitions are fairly generalised in order to accommodate the future popularity of goods that might not yet be in common circulation. Retention of those goods for 14 days will give the police an opportunity to ascertain whether the goods have in fact been illegally acquired and passed on to dealers. 
The bill provides for the licensing of second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers. One licence will now cover both second-hand dealing and pawnbroking. It also requires key individuals associated with second-hand dealing and pawnbroking businesses to be licensed in their own right. The select committee has recommended a number of changes to clause 6 which sets out who is to be regarded as engaging in the business of second-hand dealing and who is not. Those changes improve the clarity of that clause. Compliance costs for second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers have been kept as low as they reasonably can be while being mindful of the objectives of the legislation. 
Although the reforms envisaged by this bill are primarily aimed at making it harder for criminals to dispose of stolen goods and easier for the police to solve property crimes the bill’s provisions also have a consumer protection component particularly in relation to the duties of pawnbrokers. Pawnbrokers will now be required to retain goods pledged to them for a 3-month minimum unless they are redeemed before that date. After that if a pledge is unclaimed they will be obliged to offer it for sale. 
The bill specifies restrictions on how the pledge might initially be offered for sale. If the redemption price is not reached at that initial offering the goods may then be sold by any means the pawnbroker chooses as long as that is calculated to reach the best price. The committee recommended that the bill be amended to make it possible to offer the unredeemed pledge by Internet auction as well as public auction at the initial offering. That recognises that the Internet auction is a common way of selling goods today but still provides a way of selling that is transparent. 
I also intend to move a Supplementary Order Paper during the Committee stage to allow pawnbrokers to purchase unredeemed pledges they have accepted—providing they do that only by way of an unconditional contract and only if both parties agree. That amendment will introduce some flexibility into the disposal of unredeemed goods while not unduly placing at risk consumers’ interests in achieving a fair price for their goods. 
Currently promoters of markets and fairs are not required to keep records of who is selling second-hand goods at their fair or market. This bill places record-keeping requirements on such promoters in order to assist the police. The requirements are not onerous. The committee recommended that similar provisions be introduced for Internet auctioneers. That reflects the increasing popularity of the Internet as a means of selling used goods and is a major improvement to the bill. 
In respect of enforcement the police will be entitled to search registers and to inspect any and all goods held by licensees for the purposes of second-hand dealing or pawnbroking. Those are powers the police are already able to exercise under the current law but the improved information available to them—for example verified identities of those who supply goods—will greatly improve the effectiveness of such inspections. 
Penalties in the bill will be much higher than the existing penalties in the Secondhand Dealers Act or Pawnbrokers Act. The maximum financial penalty under the current Secondhand Dealers Act is just $200 and under the Pawnbrokers Act is just $100. Those penalties are far too low to provide any deterrent effect. The maximum penalty under this bill for unlicensed trading as a second-hand dealer or pawnbroker will be $20000. Penalties for failure to comply with the obligations in relation to for example keeping a register will now be punishable by fines of up to $10000. 
This bill represents an important reform that will bring second-hand dealing and pawnbroking into the 21st century. It will make it harder for burglars to dispose of stolen goods via such dealers and it will make it easier for the police to track down criminals if they try to do that. It is another move by the Government in support of the police to crack down on burglary and these efforts are already beginning to deliver. I thank the Law and Order Committee for the work it has done on this bill and I commend the bill to the House.