Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 I will take just a short call on the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. Before I refer to the bill I would like to diverge slightly. I understand that Australia has a new Prime Minister and I think it is a good time to acknowledge Julia Gillard and to wish her well. I thank Prime Minister Rudd for his efforts over the last 2½ years in governing our closest ally Australia. 
The Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill promotes and protects consumers’ interests. It also creates an environment of confidence where consumers can choose and purchase vehicles. The previous speaker Clare Curran said this bill would be passed today under urgency but it will not. It will have its second reading today but it will not be passed—that is through all stages—under urgency. This bill is in line with the National Government’s efforts to reform regulations to cut red tape and to reduce compliance costs. Compliance costs are not just about form-filling for the sake of form-filling and they are not about recording for the sake of recording. They are not about paying administration fees and costs for the sake of paying fees and costs and creating more bureaucracy. One of this Government’s six policy drivers is to boost long-term economic growth. That is about creating jobs lifting incomes raising living standards and cutting regulation and red tape. This bill fits within our long-term strategic plan for this country. 
I will talk about a few parts of the bill that the previous speaker did not refer to. In fact I will address the bill because the previous speaker did not. It amends the process for traders renewing their annual registration and reducing compliance costs as we have already stated. It will make annual statutory declarations part of a registration renewal which I think is critical. It is about closing the loopholes around preventing the automatic banning of traders whose registration has lapsed. The bill is also about removing requirements for private sellers at car markets—that is not sellers in the market place but private sellers—who want to display consumer information notices. The bill also increases the financial limit at which cases may be heard by the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal from $50000 to $100000. I think that that is in line with not just inflation but also the pricing of motor vehicles as time goes on. Finally it also allows the tribunal to award costs for non-attendance of either party to the dispute and it allows the decisions to be published. I think that that is a critical part of the bill. It provides incentives for justice to prevail and it also provides for the accountability and the transparency of those decisions so that the public may see how such decisions are made and how they are disclosed. 
We heard this bill in the Commerce Committee. Admittedly the prior speaker did refer to it being over a year since the first reading but we heard submissions and we worked through the bill in what I thought was a collaborative way—as we do in that select committee. 
Clare Curran 
: We certainly do. 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA 
: We certainly do. It is a bill that is to be commended for its overall purpose. Thank you.