Page 3595 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 September 1991
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We have come a long way since the 1950s and 1960s. As I read through this Bill last night in preparing these comments, I thought back to the days when I used to earn my pocket money in my father's shop weighing up commodities like sugar, flour, biscuits, et cetera, in the bulk form in which they were handled in those days. I stood on the end of the long counter in the shop, busily earning my two bob a week pocket money weighing up these various commodities. It was very interesting to see, as I read through that, how society has changed since those times.
I also remember the annual visit by the gentleman from Brisbane who used to come along, with his little leather bag full of all his measuring tools, to go through and check my father's scales which were part of his stock-in-trade. Of course, it was a requirement in those days to have the inspector go through and adjust and stamp the scales. Of course, in those days it was a case of a one pound weight with a brown paper bag underneath it and you then weighed accordingly - not as exact as some of the measuring equipment that we have today.
As I said, things have changed as we have moved from what I call a rather less complicated world to the more modern world, and we have added to the overall cost of various commodities because of marketing via prepackaging in packets. These days anyone who has tried to buy a couple of items of hardware, like nuts or bolts, will know that you have to buy a dozen when you really want only one or two - unless you go to a couple of the major stores in town.
It is unfortunate that in the modern world governments have had to legislate and regulate because there are a few traders out there who have in the past not been strictly honest - unlike my father, of course, in his business up in a country town in Queensland. He made sure that the weights were right, so to speak.
I guess one plus is the increasing trend towards uniform legislation, and I suppose we should support that. However, we need to be sure that we do not end up having to adopt the lowest common denominator, as is often the case when you are seeking to bring in this sort of legislation. It seems to me that the move to spot checking and the use of licensed people to certify instruments is probably a move in the right direction; a little bit of, dare I say, privatisation in this area, which, I think, is probably a very efficient way to go.
However, I give a word of warning to the Government to ensure that sufficient spot checkers and officers are available to grant these licences. Certainly, this legislation has dragged things kicking and screaming into the twentieth century, with the large increase in fines. I note that the fines have gone up to $5,000 for an
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