Goff Phil: Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill — First Reading 
Goff Phil: Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6512] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill be now read a first time. 
 Later I will refer this bill to the Law and Order Committee. 
This bill replaces the Secondhand Dealers Act of 1936 and the Pawnbrokers Act of 1908. Both Acts are now well out of date. This bill is part of a package of measures implemented by Government that is designed to combat property crime. It has two main objectives: firstly to make it harder for criminals to dispose of stolen goods through second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers; and secondly to make it easier for the police to recover stolen goods and solve property crimes. 
The bill considerably increases penalties for offences compared with the Secondhand Dealers Act and the Pawnbrokers Act. Currently penalties fail to provide any adequate deterrent for offending under the provisions of these Acts. The maximum penalty under this bill for acting either as an unlicensed second-hand dealer or as an unlicensed pawnbroker is now set at $20000 compared with $200 and $100 under the present Acts. 
The integrity of the licensing system will be improved in a variety of ways. First as well as dealers and pawnbrokers requiring licences staff accepting goods on behalf of the business or supervising people who accept goods on behalf of the business will be required to have certificates indicating that they do not have convictions for dishonesty. Second in place of the present lifetime licences for second-hand dealers there will be relicensing and recertificating every 5 years. Applicants will be assessed against objective criteria in place of the present subjective criteria with the focus being on excluding applicants with convictions for dishonesty. Third licences and certificates will be in a photo ID form. This will aid identification of licensees and certificate holders. Finally fourth the objective is to make it easier to establish who is licensed or certificated and for police to contact them and that will be done by having a centralised electronic register in place of the present paper-based system. In the case of second-hand dealers the present paper-based system has largely broken down and is ineffectual. 
Under the bill second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers will be required to sight an approved ID from a person selling or pledging goods to them to record how that person was identified and to ask that person to provide contact details as well as his or her signature. Many businesses currently do this voluntarily but many do not. The legislation will increase the risk for people knowingly trying to pass on stolen goods. It will also help the police to trace where people who are unknowingly passing on stolen goods obtained those goods. 
Under the bill second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers will be required to comply with various record-keeping and labelling requirements. Significant changes are made to obtaining ID details and to a requirement that a record be kept showing the name and contact details of employees. Currently second-hand dealers are required to retain certain goods for a minimum of 1 month. This is so that goods at risk of being stolen remain with the dealer long enough for there to be a good chance that they will be detected either by the dealer by the police carrying out an inspection or by a customer. 
The schedule listing these goods has been unchanged since 1963. It contains gramophones and fur coats. It does not contain videos and computers. Therefore we need a new schedule and all the goods listed in the new schedule are regarded by the police as being at risk of being stolen. To reduce compliance costs the retention period has been shortened to 2 weeks. An exception is made for goods sold on behalf of a client. They can be sold within 2 weeks but the dealer will need to get ID and contact details from the buyer so that police can trace the goods if it appears that they may have been stolen. 
Under the bill people carrying on a business running markets or fairs will be required to keep records showing where and when they operated who was selling second-hand articles or scrap metal or who acted as a pawnbroker at that market or fair. This new requirement however will not be onerous. 
Under the bill the police must be permitted access to records. They must also be allowed to inspect any or all goods held by licensed second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers. The bill requires that licensing decisions made subject to the Act will be the responsibility of a registrar of second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers appointed and serviced by the Government. This replaces the present decentralised system where licences are issued by the various district courts. The new system will be much more efficient. 
The regulation powers under the bill are quite broad. This is necessary because of the many and diverse kinds of transactions that can occur and because of the rapidly changing commercial environment. The procedures for obtaining ID and for record keeping and labelling need to be appropriate to the type of business and the type of transaction. Transitional provisions too have been designed to minimise disruption to businesses as the move is made to the new regime. 
People who hold a licence under the Secondhand Dealers Act the Pawnbrokers Act or the Auctioneers Act will be deemed to hold a licence under the new Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act for the first year after the new Act comes into force. After that they will be required to get a new licence if they wish to carry on business as a second-hand dealer or pawnbroker. People will be able to hold auctioneers’ licences under both the new Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act and the existing Auctioneers Act. 
In conclusion in carrying out the review that led to this bill officials consulted widely with private sector stakeholders. These included the New Zealand Licensed Traders Association individual second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers the Boating Industries Association of New Zealand the Scrap Metal Recycling Association of New Zealand the Auctioneers Association of New Zealand the Insurance Council and the Consumers Institute of New Zealand. Overwhelmingly these bodies were supportive of the change recommended. I wish to thank them and their organisations for their input and look forward to their submissions to the select committee. 
I expect that every party and member of this House would support this legislation. It represents a significant advance in the campaign against property crime which this Government is committed to. I commend this bill to the House.