Andrew Leigh

TURNBULL MUST ACT ON POOR CHOICE AND ROTTEN APPLES

Malcolm Turnbull needs to stop focusing on giving big business a billion dollar handout and instead ensure they are playing by the rules.
 
Apple has been fined $9 million by the Federal Court for making false or misleading claims to customers with faulty iPhones and iPads in a case that backs Labor’s calls for increased fines for breaches of consumer law.
 
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had taken the tech giant to court amid complaints it had told customers they weren't entitled to a repair or replacement after they had a third party fix devices that were disabled by an iOS software update.

In a statement, the Commission said:

If a product is faulty, customers are legally entitled to a repair or a replacement under the Australian Consumer Law, and sometimes even a refund.

Labor went to the last election calling for:

• Increased civil penalties for anti-consumer behavior from a maximum of $1.1 million to $10 million under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010
• Adopt a new penalty system for anti-competitive conduct, based on 30 per cent of the annual sales of the relevant product or service, multiplied by the number of years the infringement took place, capped at 10 per cent of annual turnover.
• An increase in the Commission’s litigation budget, funded in part by increased penalties
• An amendment of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to give a market studies function to the Commission

The Turnbull Government finally saw reason last year and adopted Labor’s push to increase penalties, but has let the bill languish in the House of Representatives since February.
 
Bigger penalties deter dodgy behaviour and some of the revenue could be directed back into the Commission’s litigation budget, giving it more firepower to go after companies that flout the law.
 
TUESDAY, 19 JUNE 2018

Authorised by Noah Carroll ALP Canberra.