TWO years ago, when Queensland's then Premier Peter Beattie was planning a ministerial reshuffle, I offered him some advice.
I suggested, in light of the appalling real estate regulation record of the Office of Fair Trading, this portfolio be handled by his Attorney-General – or another minister with legal qualifications.
Beattie’s Chief of Staff soon replied and explained why my advice would not be taken:
“The Premier does not consider it essential that Ministers have formal qualifications in the areas of their portfolio responsibilities. While there may be advantages in some instances, there are also disadvantages, including the risk of identifying too closely with sectional views”.
Without buying into Fair Trading’s performance, I was assured that legally-qualified staff members provided their Minister with “independent and quality advice.” I was not convinced.
Two years and a new Premier later, things are changing. One of Premier Anna Bligh’s first moves this month was to pass the Fair Trading portfolio to Attorney-General (and former solicitor) Kerry Shine. You could have knocked me over with one of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act’s 502 pages.
Attorney-General Shine welcomed the “additional responsibility” the Premier had entrusted to him, and looked forward to the “opportunities and challenges” for service in this area. “I believe Fair Trading is a natural fit within the Attorney-General & Justice portfolio”, he said.
Fair Trading (or Consumer Affairs as it was once styled) has often been an orphan looking for a suitable home and ministerial master. During the Bjelke-Petersen years it resided within the Justice Department. In 1989 Consumer Affairs became part of Justice and Corrective Services under the Goss Labor Government’s Glen Milner.
From 1992 to 1993 Milner lost Justice but retained Consumer Affairs and Corrective Services. Then Consumer Affairs was tacked onto Deputy Premier Tom Burns’ Emergency Services and Rural Communities Departments. From July 1995 to December 1995 Emergency Services and Consumer Affairs had a new Minister. These portfolios passed to yet another Minister until February 1996.
During the two years of the subsequent Borbidge Coalition Government Consumer Affairs returned to Justice – and Attorney-General’s. In 1998, with the advent of the Beattie Labor Government, Consumer Affairs became Equity and Fair Trading under Judy Spence, also Minister for Women’s Policy and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Policy. From 2001 to 2004 the since-disgraced Merri Rose was Minister for Tourism, Racing and Fair Trading. Somehow Equity and Fair Trading morphed into the Office of Fair Trading. Margaret Keech then presided over Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development until the new Premier relieved her of Fair Trading.
Did Anna Bligh, as Premier-in-waiting, observe with alarm Fair Trading’s abysmal consumer protection record under Ministers Spence, Rose and particularly Keech? Consider these concerns:
· The Ombudsman’s 2003/2004 report detailed his major investigation into Fair Trading’s handling of two-tier marketeering complaints. He identified serious deficiencies in Fair Trading’s investigative process and concluded that its administrative actions constituted maladministration.
· No prosecutions resulted when Minister Keech’s husband was spruiked by his estate agency employer as its “land sales marketing specialist” without having completed his training or being registered as a salesman.
· While
· No action has been taken to ensure that “fundamentally flawed” standard real estate contracts are fair to consumers.
· The Real Estate Institute of Queensland received a Fair Trading consumer protection award, while Minister Keech (even more incredibly) counted the REIQ among “
· Despite ministerial promises
· Auction skulduggery is alive and well in the Deep North, with vendor bids still allowed.
· Over-priced property marketeering continues to thrive with few successful prosecutions of the marketers, agents, solicitors and others involved.
· Courts and Tribunals have criticised the drafting of the much-amended Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act. One judge described a consumer-protective form as “intimidating”.
· Consumer-friendly disclosure laws, despite working well in other parts of
· Estate agents are permitted to recommend less-than-independent solicitors, building inspectors and mortgage brokers to trusting buyers.
· While residential buyers must be given written warnings to seek independent pre-contract legal advice, sellers get no such statutory warnings.
· Meanwhile Minister Keech has told property buyers “to educate themselves” because they rely too much on agents to educate them about the market and their rights.
· Finally, the public can view the Register of (rogues’) Enforceable Undertakings, not on-line, but only at Fair Trading’s
Around the time my advice was rejected,
Premier Bligh has also recognised these long-overdue needs which, I am quietly hopeful, Attorney-General Shine will at last supply.
By Tim O’Dwyer is a