Page 808 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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introduce them as a new section in the Consumer Affairs Bill. The legislation, in short, Mr Speaker, allows the Minister by notice in the Gazette to prescribe what are known as product information standards. These can prescribe a number of items in relation to the product, but of most importance here is to require information relating to the durable life of the goods to be included on the packaging. And, of course, we are all familiar with that, because most packaged goods now manufactured throughout Australia as a matter of course do contain a use-by date which shows the durable life of the goods.
The second effect of this amendment is to include in the offence section reference to this product information standard, so that the substantive offence provision in the Consumer Affairs Act, section 15FE, will make it an offence for a person to supply goods that are intended to be used by a consumer, if in its amended form there is a prescribed consumer product safety standard or a product information standard in respect of the goods and the goods do not comply with that standard.
The existing offence is very important and is used to make it an offence to sell goods that do not comply with product safety standards. From time to time the Minister has announced here or through press releases, where he has seen fit to prescribe a product safety standard for unsafe goods, that it is an existing offence to sell goods if they do not comply with the product safety standard. Our amendment will make it a further offence to sell goods if they do not comply with the product information standard and, if the Minister sees fit to prescribe those standards in relation to the durable life of goods, it will be an offence to sell goods when they have exceeded their durable life, which is shown as the use-by date.
The Bill, if passed, will, of course, depend for its effectiveness on administrative action or executive action in prescribing the standards; but I would be confident, or I would hope that I could be confident, that the Government would address that. Mr Speaker, again this is an area where the ACT has lagged behind, where consumers in other parts of Australia have been protected, where we as an island in New South Wales are, in effect, a refuge or dumping ground for products which cannot be offered for sale across the border. That is not good enough for the citizens of the Australian Capital Territory. This is an obvious problem that cries out for legislative action.
There may well be, as I understand, some version 2, if you like, of food use-by standards in the production line that may go through that necessarily long and tortuous process of interstate consultation to prescribe national standards. That is a good thing, and we would support action by this Government if it happens within the life of this Government. We in government would be quick to work with other States and Territories in establishing national standards for food legislation and use-by legislation. But
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