Page 2134 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 9 September 1992
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Territory consumers and businesses need the assistance of innovative and effective strategies which ensure a free, fair and competitive marketplace. For this reason, I will ask the Commonwealth to roll back the operation of the Trade Practices Act in the Territory so that its coverage is the same as it is in the other States.
This Bill mirrors the unfair practices provisions of the Commonwealth Trade Practices Act. It sets out minimum standards that traders must observe when negotiating bargains. These standards are based on our community's expectations of fairness and equity. The standards also acknowledge the stresses and strains of business in the modern world. Unfair traders are often tempted to cut corners or engage in sharp practices to the detriment of both consumers and their fair trading competitors. Most of the provisions in this Bill follow the Commonwealth provisions word for word. This is necessary because, as I have explained, the law will operate concurrently with its Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory equivalents. Where the provisions differ from their Commonwealth equivalents, it is because the Bill has picked up relevant modifications that have been included in the more recent New South Wales and Northern Territory fair trading legislation.
The Bill is divided into four main parts. Part I of the Bill establishes the scope of the legislation. Most of the obligations contained in this Bill are imposed on persons in trade and commerce. "Persons" has a wide meaning because of the operation of the Interpretation Act. Consequently, the Bill applies to individuals in business as well as corporate traders. The Crown, too, will be bound by this legislation. The Government believes that whenever it engages in commercial activities it must set the standard and behave as a model trader. Traders must be able to compete with government enterprises on an equal footing. Consumers must enjoy the same standard of pre-sale protection whether they deal with public or private enterprise. For the purposes of this law, trade and commerce includes any business or professional activity. This means that professional advisers, such as lawyers and accountants, must comply with the Act. So, too, must the sole trader who runs a business from his or her home.
Just as the obligations contained in this law are imposed on the whole of the business community, the rights conferred by this law are also conferred on the whole of the consuming community. By this I mean that not only individual consumers such as you and I but also businesses entering into consumer-type transactions have rights under this law. This wide application of the law acknowledges that there is a public interest in maintaining a basic standard of honesty and fair dealing in the negotiation of bargains. Therefore, in most cases, traders can bring actions against their competitors to stop them from engaging in unfair trading. The view taken by the authors of the Commonwealth Trade Practices Act, to which this Government subscribes, is that such actions brought by rival traders will indirectly benefit individual consumers by keeping marketing fair and honest.
The definition of the term "consumer" is very broad. Individuals or traders that acquire goods or services from a supplier are consumers unless they acquire, or intend to acquire, the goods or services in the course of a business for the purpose of reselling them or using them as a raw material in a manufacturing or repair process. This definition is modelled on its counterparts in the New South Wales and Northern Territory fair trading legislation and differs slightly from the one used in section 4 of the Commonwealth Trade Practices Act.
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