Catherine Cusack, Liberal Member of the NSW Legislative Council

Press Release

Catherine Cusack, Liberal Member of the NSW Legislative Council

NSW Fair Trading Reeling under 7th Minister in 7 years

Tuesday, 09 September 2008

Strathfield MP Virginia Judge will face a veritable shambles in Fair Trading after becoming the seventh Minister in seven years, Shadow Minister for Fair Trading Catherine Cusack said today.

“Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney is leaving the portfolio in an incredible tangle of incomplete reviews; unfinished reform; and bungled cases requiring urgent attention:

· Beechwood consumers are still stranded and have been waiting for action since the company collapsed on 13 May. In spite of promises by Ms Burney that work would restart in May, then June, then July and then August, a dispute between the new builder and Vero over home warranty insurance continues to delay work restarting and consumers are desperate for State Government intervention;

· NSW Home Warranty and regulation of the building industry is in urgent need of reform after a dozen critical reports- change promised but not delivered by Minister Burney after the Beechwood collapse revealed numerous flaws in her supervision of the industry;

· The controversial Retirement Villages Act is stuck halfway in Parliament – major reforms foreshadowed by Ms Meagher in 2003 are still languishing after Minister Burney back-flipped on promises to consumers – the Bill is set for a rough ride in the Upper House after being rammed through the lower House when parliament was recalled;

· The state’s Tenancy Act has been under review since 2002 – Minister Burney was the 5thMinister to promise reform but failed to deliver. With acute shortages of accommodation and skyrocketing rents, the need for these reforms is desperate;

· Product Safety laws are in limbo after COAG resolved to adopt a national approach against the wishes of Minister Burney whose love of “killer toy” stories led her to resist reform at every opportunity. This failure to co-operate and prepare has delayed a vastly improved national consumer protection system;

· Our archaic state based regulation of credit is in urgent need of decisive action to clean up rogue lenders who are unlicensed and unaccountable due to NSW failure to deliver on a 2002 promise to license and police mortgage and finance brokers;

· With the cost of living skyrocketing and families feeling the squeeze, NSW Fair Trading still has no coherent strategy for financial counselling and financial literacy services. These are one of the most important means of empowering and assisting consumers, yet most of the effort is being shouldered by charities overrun with demand for services;

· Our main disputes resolution body, the Consumer Tenancy Trader Tribunal is midway through a tepid reform programme after its reputation was trashed during the George Newhouse Affair and it was revealed numerous bad decisions by unqualified members are landing consumers with ruinous appeals in the Supreme Court;

· Our struggling real estate, and motor trading industries continue to labour under short sighted and illogical regulation by Fair Trading. Our co-operatives laws regulating the taxi industry and many rural enterprises have not been overhauled since the days of Queen Victoria; and,

· the Associations Act governing all voluntary groups is another Act dating back to Queen Victoria which has been under review for 5 years with a final solution promised, but again not delivered by Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney.

Ms Cusack questioned Labor’s understanding of the challenging environment facing volunteers, businesses, landlords, tenants, the credit sector, co-operatives, and sole traders who are regulated by Fair Trading.

“The problem is all these new Ministers had to undertake what Minister Burney described as ‘a huge learning curve’ after their appointment.

“It is very frustrating for literally hundreds of industry representatives and thousands of stakeholders to queue for appointments to brief and rebrief inexperienced new Ministers. Because they are only staying for an average 12 months in the job there is no time to get anything meaningful done.

“I obviously wish Minister Judge better luck than her predecessors who have left the portfolio in a shambles. She will have her work cut out, starting today. Seven Ministers in seven years for a portfolio in desperate need of reaching outcomes, and has a crucial role in the COAG national reform agenda is a disgrace. It tells us the NSW Labor Party either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the importance of ordinary consumers, traders, landlords and tenants,” Ms Cusack said.

ENDS

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