Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Wiggles, I was just informed by the honourable member for Watson, are also on viagogo. There is no aspect of the community that is safe—not even The Wiggles and their Big Red Car are safe—from the perils of the bots that are dispensing tickets that are arguably either overpriced or, more to the point, not what they purport to be.

I have to say—just going back to the issue of Paul McCartney that was raised earlier—that the Astor Theatre is right in the heart of my electorate, in the federal seat of Perth. I must say that, but for the fact of driving down Beaufort Street and seeing the banners advertising the Paul McCartney tribute show, one would have no reasonable way of knowing that a consumer was purchasing a ticket to a tribute show as opposed to ostensibly the real deal, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of us who grew up loving the music of the Beatles, the Wings and then Paul McCartney in his often much-maligned—in my view, for no good reason—solo career.

It goes to the heart of a very, very serious issue. The serious issue is simply that, in today's society, notwithstanding a technical breach of 'misleading and deceptive conduct', this practice is now so widespread that, without the government acting upon this motion brought by the honourable member for Watson, we risk seeing this conduct perpetrated time and time again. It is a practice that not only harms consumers but also harms artists, and it also harms small communities and businesses like the Astor Theatre, who are unnecessarily targeted by disappointed consumers who mistakenly believe that there may be some culpability involved at the shopfront in relation to marketing something that people just are not expecting to receive. It is why we saw the United States Congress passing the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, or the BOTS Act, making it unlawful to buy up tickets in bulk, using bots, for the purpose of reselling them at a profit. It is also why we saw this side of the Chamber support a motion in the other place that was passed in or about late March, calling for action from this government to protect consumers in this space.

On behalf of Australian performing-arts consumers—and I am delighted to join the shadow minister for the arts, the member for Watson—I say quite frankly in this place that enough is enough. Consumers want and deserve better protection. Artists want and deserve better protection. Primary ticket sellers want better protection. Technology in the 21st century evolves very rapidly, and in this place we need to make sure that we get ahead of the curve to respond to disruption in a circumstance where we can see that the appropriate level of regulation here would prevent the misleading and deceptive conduct that is happening all over the country right now. Surely it is not a challenge beyond us here to craft a fix for this that will protect consumers whilst facing a legitimate ticket resale market for those who have had to change their plans—although, in fairness, it may well be beyond the wit of those opposite. They are struggling in education. They are struggling in climate change. They show no signs of responding to the needs of consumers. I certainly hope those hardworking families who need to see The Wiggles will get what they deserve. (Time expired)

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