AFTA View – September 2010
Consumer protection review remains the big issue
for the travel industry
WE have a result, with a twist! Finally, the nation has a government and we can get on with things. Well we hope we can.
We can look at how we get the key issue facing the travel industry back on track. While there are many issues facing the Federal Government, for the travel industry, the big issue remains the outcome of the review of consumer protection.
Over the coming weeks we will see all of the remaining parts of the puzzle fall into place as the new cabinet is announced and ministerial appointments are made. This will also apply to the Opposition and these processes will set the stage for who we will be dealing with federally.
With Labor holding office on the basis of the 76 seats made up of 72 Labor MP’s, one Green MP, and three Independents, it remains to be seen if this structure will have any material impact on what we are working towards with the consumer review.
It may be that the travel industry will have to get to know Adam Bandt MP (Greens member), Rob Oakeshott MP, Tony Windsor MP, Andrew Wilkie MP (independent members) and start to understand the full impact of the influence these four men will have over the process of government and in fact the formation and development of legislation.
My hope is that for the most part we will be able to pick up and continue as was planned prior to the election.
While at the time of writing this AFTA view, the ministerial appoint-ments had not been confirmed, we are likely to be dealing with the same bureaucrats in Canberra in terms of the progress of the consumer protection review.
This will enable us to have a degree of continuity about the message and hopefully will assist us in getting an outcome, or at least a strong indication as to the direction in which the review will go next.
The actual review process is complete. This was submitted by PricewaterhouseCoopers to the Federal Treasury officials at the end of June. It is my understanding that the review report has been received by the Standing Committee of Consumer Affairs (SCOCA) officials and that recommendations as to the next steps are being prepared for presentation to the Ministerial Council of Consumer Affairs (MCCA) meeting, which is made up of the Federal Minister for Consumer Affairs and all his state counterparts.
The MCCA meetings is set for late November/early December – an achievable timeframe. BUT there is a
state election in Victoria set for November 27 which may impact on the process and there is also a state election set for NSW on March 24 next year.
These two state elections may also have a material impact on the process and the way the review is received. Political cycles are a fact of life and we may just have to wait a little longer to get some traction.
Jayson Westbury’s AFTA View column appears monthly.