Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

No matter what make or model of the car they own, Australians should be able to choose where they get their car serviced or repaired. For years car manufacturers and large dealerships have tightly guarded the technical information required by independent mechanics to safely carry out servicing of and repairs on motor vehicles. Labor supports the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill 2021. In fact, we've been calling for this very change for a long time.

In 2011, the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon. David Bradbury, requested the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council to report on the consumer harm caused by the lack of access to service and repair information. As a result of that report, the Gillard government endorsed the need for a code of conduct between independent automotive repairers and car manufacturers to allow repairers access to the data they needed from manufacturers to service modern cars. Unfortunately, progress on a compulsory scheme stalled under this government. That is why, in May 2018, Labor announced that, following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's 2017 report on its new car retailing industry market study, Labor would put in place a mandatory code requiring manufacturers to share with independent mechanics the information they need to fix modern cars. We proposed a mandatory code because it was clear that the voluntary code that had been put in place in 2014 requiring manufacturers to share data and technical information with independent mechanics wasn't working. Over the past 10 years, Labor has been advocating for fairer access to data. We have listened to and met with a large number of automotive and consumer organisations and independent mechanics advocating for the provisions of this bill. We know that more choice gives consumers a better deal on car service and repairs, and that's more money back into the pockets of car owners.

This bill amends the Competition and Consumer Act to establish a scheme that mandates all service and repair information provided to car dealership networks and manufacturer-preferred repairers be made available to independent repairers and the registered training organisations to purchase. This bill will level the playing field by addressing some of the power imbalances between multinational manufacturers, independent mechanics and small-business repairers. Although relevant across Australia, this power imbalance is particularly evident in regional, rural and remote Australia, where vehicle owners have fewer choices for servicing and repairs. In some locations there are no authorised dealers, so consumers must travel long distances or tow vehicles to other locations, costing them time and money, while smaller local repairers lose out on business.

After Labor flagged the underlying reasons and need for this bill with a policy announcement in May 2018, we are pleased to see that the government has finally acted. The government's decision to adopt Labor's policies is an overdue win for consumers, for small-business repairers and for car owners, who have been campaigning for this change. It will encourage competition and give Australians greater choice around where they service and repair their vehicles.