Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee to consider the bill.

At the outset, I’d like to acknowledge my parliamentary adviser over the last eight years, Matthew Stephens, who worked hard with me on the development and progression of this member’s bill, and the countless New Zealand consumers who are suffering under the weight of expired gift cards, in dire need of relief and trade reform in this part of the New Zealand economy.

Today, I rise to present the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill, which aims to bring about fairness and consumer protection in the gift card industry. It seeks to extend the minimum expiry date of gift cards for three years, ensuring that all New Zealanders have a fair opportunity to utilise the full value of their gift cards.

The idea for this bill was first sparked with my colleague the Hon Jacqui Dean in 201718, when she served as the Opposition spokesperson for small business and I was chairperson of the then Commerce Committee, which is now the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. The bill was subsequently entrusted to me in 2020 after a brief spell under the custodianship of my former parliamentary colleague Jo Hayes. After the random authority of the biscuit tin ballot, it was drawn from the ballot in November last year, to be debated in this House today.

Gift cards have become a popular choice for many Kiwis, offering convenience and flexibility for both gift-givers and recipients. However, the current situation allows for unreasonably short expiry dates on these cards, causing approximately one in five recipients in our country to lose the full value of their gift before they can redeem it.

According to research, an estimated $10 million a year is lost on expired gift cards, which is simply unjust, in my view. From books to baches, to barbecues and restaurants, Kiwis are missing out on the opportunity their loved ones have provided them due to the paucity of time they have to utilise them.

Some research indicates there is currently about $267 million of gift cards throughout New Zealand that are unused. The frustrations and sometimes tears and anger at the inability to use a gift card when you’ve thought and considered for weeks how to utilise it for special purchases or being completely unable to utilise it due to the time scope involved must end. By extending the minimum expiry date to three years, we ensure that individuals have ample time to utilise their gift cards, reducing the frustrations and disappointment caused by premature expiration.

Furthermore, this bill contributes to the economic wellbeing of New Zealanders by preventing the loss of funds due to expired gift cards, and more money stays in the pockets of consumers, stimulating the economic activity and supporting local businesses. It removes uncertainty across the economy by ensuring businesses, small and large alike, know how long they have to maintain gift cards as a liability in their accounts. It also ensures we get better consumer outcome for all, more holidays, more special moments, and more exciting products purchased that will make New Zealand families happier.

This House today is not alone in considering the regulation of this small and vital part of our consumer economy. Countries like Canada have banned expiry dates outright, while the United States enforces a minimum five-year expiry date requirement. By comparison, many New Zealand retailers still impose a shorter six-month or 12-month expiry date. I have proposed the three-year minimum period as the middle ground at this first reading stage, and I hope, should this House pass the bill to the select committee, that we hear industry and consumers alike as to the best time scale for New Zealand standard gift card expiration time.

As with much proposed legislation, there have been some small concerns raised with me that this proposal could infringe on small-business practices. Some argue that extending the minimum expiry date may burden businesses or lead to unintended consequences. One article in particular raises concern about how this bill might affect retailers and implies potential drawbacks.

Let me address these concerns directly. First and foremost, this bill is not intended to place an undue burden on businesses. Instead, it seeks to strike a balance between consumer protection and fair business practices by providing a three-year minimum expiry date. Retailers still have ample opportunity to encourage timely redemption while ensuring fairness to consumers.

Moreover, this bill aligns New Zealand’s regulations with international standards promoting a competitive and fair marketplace. It is essential that we take into consideration the experiences of other countries that have successfully implemented similar policies. So many of our New Zealand businesses that offer gift cards are part of a wider international network, so it makes greater sense in a globalised economy that we can have better gift card expiration date alignment with our international friends and trading partners.

Finally, I know that some consumers also want to debate how gift cards should be treated when a business ceases trading, and I look forward to advice and submissions on this topic at the select committee. Just last week, I had an email from a consumer who had seen a TV story about gift cards and my member’s bill. I contacted her, and it’s a tragic story of how her son was leaving work because of an illness, and the company had given him a $500 gift voucher for the Nike shop at Britomart. Her son has since died of a brain tumour, and what the family wanted to do was to utilise that gift card for purchases for their grandchildren. But the shop at Britomart had since closed, and when they went to another Nike store, the gift card was not honoured.

So I look forward to the submissions on this very matter, because I did not include that in the actual bill, but I’m sure the select committee could make recommendations, and perhaps a Supplementary Order Paper could be introduced on that.

There are some significant additional questions to add at select committee, in particular whether Prezzy cards and other types of temporary credit and debit cards should fall within the remit of the proposals, and how our policy can align with trans-Tasman operational businesses and, indeed, other online-only and international partners. These are important considerations I hope to discuss comprehensively at select committee stage. I know there are many businesses, consumers, and commercial organisations all eager to constructively engage in these conversations.

Honourable members, we are still in a cost of living crisis. New Zealand is in a recession, and weekly shops, the replacement of utilities, and the need for services are hurting New Zealand households. Gift cards with a minimum three-year expiry date can go a long way to helping those households who save a card, thinking that they can purchase something for a rainy day, but find out that the gift card expired a long time ago.

In conclusion, the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill is a vital step towards consumer protection and economic prosperity in New Zealand. By extending the minimum expiry date of gift cards to three years, we ensure that Kiwis have a fair chance to utilise the value of their gifts. I call upon all members of this House to support this bill to ensure that New Zealand remains at the forefront of consumer protection and fairness in the market place. I commend the bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Look, there is clearly an issue here that needs to be addressed. There have been surveys which show that of the 20 percent of gift card users who’ve been stuck with an expired card, more than half lost more than $20, and 10 percent lost more than $60. We know that a percentage of shoppers never spend, or are able to redeem all of the money on a gift card that they’ve received. There are real advantages to retailers in selling gift cards. They have money banked already, essentially they have a sale in the pocket, and they also have the prospect of further sales as those who are gift card users frequently spend beyond the amount of the gift card when they come into a shop to redeem that card.

So we know that these cards are of big benefit to retailers. We know that the practice in New Zealand is out of line with other partners that we—other countries we look to overseas or align ourselves with. Melissa Lee has talked about, in her contribution, the merit of aligning expiry dates with overseas partners. I think that is an issue the select committee will need to pick up if this makes it through to the select committee. Australia has a three-year limit and we see that many Australian firms don’t apply that limit in New Zealand. So New Zealand consumers are being treated more poorly than Australian consumers by the same companies.

But we also see that in other jurisdictions like the United States and Ireland, that it’s five years typically for an expiry date on a gift card. In many, if not most, Canadian provinces there is no limit, no expiry date on gift cards. So if alignment is what we’re looking for, I think that is something that would need to be looked at more closely.

Melissa Lee’s also raised the issue of shops that have closed, transferability of gift cards; there are a range of issues around gift cards that need a more serious look. I would add to that the classification of what is a gift card. We know, for example, that many retailers offer benefits with the sale, ones that spring to mind readily are the free coffees that supermarkets offer, which comes in the form of a little token that you can redeem usually within a short period of time. Discounts on petrol are another frequent thing that appears with a receipt when you’re making a purchase at some stores, and typically they don’t expire very far into the future at all. So “what are gift cards?” is one of the questions that will need to be thought carefully about if this is going to be a blanket extension of that limit. So I fear that in its current form there are some things to be concerned about in the bill, albeit that it is a bill that is addressing a very real issue.

So on this side of the House, we’re very much mindful of the significant amount of money that remains unspent on gift cards, nearly quarter of a—or in fact more than quarter of a billion dollars according to one survey. The average Kiwi has three gift cards with credit remaining, with a combined total of $72 left over, we’re told. There’s actually a gender gap here, men tend to have more money sitting on their gift cards unused than women—$90 according to a survey; whereas women typically have $54 sitting on their gift cards. Also a generational one: millennials, according to the same survey, have an average of $97 on unused gift cards.

Another question that that I have is what happens eventually if a gift card isn’t redeemed? We know that in the case of banks, for example, unclaimed monies are returned to the Crown. Should it be the case that unclaimed monies on gift cards are returned to the Crown? Very similar principle at play here. Or does that money, and should it, accrue to a retailer who has issued that gift card and who has accounted for it throughout? That seems to me, again, an issue that needs closer scrutiny.

So bearing in mind the challenges with making a really good fit for purpose law here, and the issues that sit already in the system with gift cards that are not redeemed, that are unfortunately meaning that Kiwis are not getting to spend money in a time when money is tight—things are pretty tough. We know that many of the markers we see are moving in the right direction, but there’s no doubt that lots of Kiwis are doing it tough.

This Government’s sought to address some of those challenges directly through things like the action on supermarkets that the Hon Dr Duncan Webb—well, I had the privilege of leading, but the Hon Dr Duncan Webb has now picked up, and appointed a Grocery Commissioner to oversee the sector because we know there was a million dollars a day being made in excess profits after a very thorough inquiry into the sector. We know that there’s going to be an investigation into banking profits and so on. These things, like the $5 prescription—scrapping of the co-payment for prescription medicines, and so on, are measures that this Government is taking to make sure that Kiwis have more of their money in their own pockets. Free public transport for kids aged five to 12, and also things like the child support pass on to address child poverty. There are lots of things we can do to make sure Kiwis get to spend their money wisely, and keep more of their money in a difficult time. Certainly not uncosted tax cuts—don’t hear me arguing that in this House. I’ll leave that to others to try and make that case.

This side of the House will be supporting this bill. We think that the principle is right, that it should be the case that there should be a longer expiry date on these cards so that Kiwis get a fair chance to spend money that has been gifted to them in a gesture often around a birthday or a significant occasion, and that short expiry dates are really removing consumer’s rights. That’s not a situation that we think should stand, so we’re going to support this bill to select committee. We look forward to the challenges that are inherent in it being addressed by the select committee process, and I congratulate the member, Melissa Lee, on bringing this bill to the House.

Damien Smith—five-minute call.

Thank you. Congratulations to the member for bringing the bill to the House. The objective of the bill is to extend the period in which a recipient can redeem their gift cards, to avoid consumers missing out on potentially purchasing goods with their gift card because the credit expired before they used it.

The bill seeks to prohibit the selling of gift cards with an expiry date of less than three years after the initial sale date, giving the recipient a more reasonable period in which to redeem its full value. This will apply to vouchers redeemable for goods and services and retailers but will not include prepaid cards for phone credit or internet access or any cards provided as part of a customer loyalty scheme. It also excludes any cards issued by financial institutions such as credit, debit, or prepaid travel currency cards.

The position of the ACT Party is that the Government should have no role in dictating the time periods which private businesses must make their gift cards available for, or viable for. The bill is not a good use of Parliament’s time. The objective of this bill is worthy; however, ACT will not be supporting it at its first reading but will await what is produced by the select committee to cover those areas of concern. Thank you.

I’m delighted to support this bill, which is really about fairness, and the Labour Party is all about fairness. It’s logical, it’s rational, because if you look at what is a gift card, it’s really an elegant way of trying to give somebody some money but acknowledging what their interests are in life, showing that one has an understanding that somebody might have an interest in sport or music or something else—or perhaps it’s about encouraging a spend in that area. Certainly, I can imagine well-meaning grandparents giving gift cards, for example, for bookstores, perhaps trying to get their grandchildren off devices, and so on. So it is an elegant way of giving a gift, and it seems very “Grinchy” and unfair that it’s time-bound. So there’s no reason really not to pass the law that would allow a reasonable amount of time for the gift card to be spent—three years, five years. I agree with the Hon Dr David Clark—we need to look at what that appropriate time frame is.

But we do need to take into account the fact that people do lose or misplace gift cards—especially according to the statistics, men, who have a higher propensity to do so, or perhaps that they don’t get to the shops as often because they’re working and so on.

We have seen from the research that 50 percent of people have three main issues with gift cards. One is checking the balance; I think it would be great if there was an easy way to check the balance. The other two, I’m not sure that legislation or regulation can resolve, which are the limited number of stores—if somebody chooses to direct the gift at a particular store, then that’s really their prerogative. And the third one, if somebody is struggling to find something at that store, then I suggest perhaps they trade in their grandparents or the person who has given the gift card, because clearly they have no idea what the person is interested in!

But a shout-out actually to Bunnings and to Barkers who perhaps have recognised the gender bias that seems to exist in who loses gift cards: they don’t have expiry dates on their gift cards.

I’d like to shout-out also to Consumer magazine because some of the research—the valuable research—in this area came from Consumer magazine, who have shown that one in five people who receive gift cards have found that they’ve expired before they get to use them, through either delay in going shopping or perhaps losing them, but also have provided that valuable insight around some gift cards for Australasian stores not being able to be used in New Zealand, when in fact they could be used in Australia due to the legal regime there.

Andrew Bayly and I and Damien Smith were on a podcast recently called Consume This, and gift cards came up. We were asked about it, and I must confess, I wish I’d known about the member’s bill. I did support the idea of looking at regulating gift cards when asked about it. If you do want to hear that podcast, gift cards and other things around market interventions to do with things raised by previous speaker Dr David Clark around groceries and so on are also traversed in that podcast on Consume This.

Andrew Bayly: Shameless self-promotion.

INGRID LEARY: It was not really self-promotion, Andrew Bayly, because I believe you’re on that podcast too. So a little bit of promotion for Consumer, who, I have to say, do a really good job for consumer rights, whose research is evidence-based, who can then get their research picked up by members of this House who can bring in bills like this really useful bill from Melissa Lee. So good shout-out to them.

But, as I say, when it comes down to it, gift cards are simply an elegant way of giving somebody a gift that is similar to money, perhaps a little bit more limited, in a way that acknowledges that the person who’s giving the gift recognises the interest area of the person receiving it and is trying to express that; there’s no reason that should be time-bound or -limited. Therefore, having a regime that follows international best practice, that has a reasonable expiry date that isn’t forever—because we know businesses change or that it could be cumbersome for business if a gift card were, say, to be presented 15 or 20 years later. So a reasonable amount of time in the legislation would be good.

There’s no reason not to do it. It’s about fairness. The Labour Party is all about fairness. I commend this bill to the House.

I’m pleased to support the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill and want to commend the member Melissa Lee for bringing this forward. I think Mt Albert candidates have had pretty good luck with members’ bills being drawn this term.

For the Greens, this is a common-sense bill that would benefit consumers and address what is inherently an unfair arrangement with gift cards that does mean consumers are missing out on being able to cash them in due to the fact that many of them have very short-range expiry dates. So, for the Greens, this makes absolute sense in terms of prohibiting, basically, expiry cards that have an expiry date of less than three years being sold. I want to acknowledge Consumer New Zealand for their advocacy on this issue and for raising this to the public, and politicians then acknowledging that there is an equity issue in terms of low-income communities ultimately losing out the most when their gift cards expire and they’re not able to cash them in.

I also want to acknowledge that for many volunteer organisations, gift cards actually are one of the ways in which they recognise the contributions that volunteers have made, and so this also will help better support people who are part of that sector. So we’re looking forward to having a good discussion with the select committee process, particularly around whether it should be three years, whether it should be longer. But I think the nature of better protection for consumers is something we can absolutely get behind. So I’m pleased to support this bill and to vote for it in later stages. Kia ora.

Sorry, Madam Speaker, obviously there’s a bit of hesitation from the Government side there on taking a call, so I thought I might quickly jump up and take this call.

First of all, I just want to congratulate Melissa Lee, who’s had 15 proud years serving this Parliament. I think this is her third member’s bill. Hopefully, with the support of Government, this will pass. But it’s a pretty outstanding result to get to this stage.

Of course, we’ve heard this bill is about expired gift cards. It’s interesting, looking at this, that’s roughly a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of value left on unused cards at present. On average, consumers have three of them—which I find surprising. And there’s an estimated $10 million of outstanding or wasted gifts that are not redeemed within time. When you hear that sort of estimate, it’s quite staggering. I’ve got to say that I find the comments that men lose cards more often than women slightly disconcerting. I’m not sure where the basis came from for that that the previous member spoke about.

But I think this is an interesting bill. It’s obviously one that has a financial cost to consumers. It’s good that the House is supporting it—other than our friends from the ACT Party. I think Ingrid Leary spoke about the contribution of Consumer New Zealand—that is right; they certainly have done some work around it. I think it should pass through; I hope it does. I’m keen to support it.

Kia orana, Madam Speaker. Thank you very much. First of all, congratulations to my colleague Melissa Lee for having her bill drawn out of the cookie tin, for this bill. It’s really lovely to see more bills being taken in the consumer affairs space. My one is also one that is, so I’m wishing for luck as well here. But, also, I really hope that my colleague will send this bill to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. I think this is a bill that we would love to hear submissions on and making sure that we get into the weeds of all this. I think definitely in the select committee stage we’d be looking for things like unintended consequences, things like stories, as well, of how this bill will affect everyday New Zealanders’ lives. But, also, I really do want to hear from the retailers as well, those who do actually issue gift cards, to see what their thoughts are on this bill and maybe some of the minor details that they would have in suggesting either amendments or things that they would see as really improving this bill, also making sure that their voices are incorporated into this as well. Like I said, there’s always unintended consequences, and I just haven’t—out of all of the documents that I’ve seen here, there hasn’t been the other side, of the issuing retailer.

We know that different businesses and different retailers have different business models. As I was sitting there contemplating this bill, I thought of the Costco model. The Costco model makes profit based on people’s membership, actually, not by the profit they make on the products. So, in fact, they issue out membership just to rely on the fact that, actually, people don’t go and shop there; that they buy membership and that’s the end of it. That’s their relationship with their consumers, and that’s where the bulk of their profitability comes from.

We know that in our New Zealand retailers, issuing gift cards is also a really big part of their profitability as well. I read here in a stat as well that there has been $267 million unspent value on gift cards, and so making sure that we unlock that value, especially as we know that New Zealanders are facing hardship at the moment, that’s probably something that we’re really keen to explore in the select committee stage of this bill. As my colleagues have no doubt already expressed, the Labour Party will support this through the first reading, and then we’ll see what happens during the select committee stage.

So, as I talked about those who we invite to come in to do a submission on this bill, the other stuff that I actually really wanted to hear about specifically as well is actually COVID, during the probably, you can argue, four years of COVID, whether there have been especially different, I guess, effects on the whole gift card as well, knowing that, you know, not every gift card works on online shopping scenarios—trust me; I know that—and making sure that the gift cards apply to all different situations as well.

I was just sitting here thinking of other ways to draft this bill as well; perhaps it’s making sure that there’s a mandatory—so I think this bill suggests three years for everything, but I know that there are six months and 12 months as well; that’s probably the most popular, making sure that it only goes to one particular date out of the two as well. So there’s lots and lots of different ways that we can definitely find the balance, but I think however we land, we make sure that our consumer voices are heard through this, and I think the issuing retailers, for me, is just the other side of the story, making sure that we mitigate all unintentional consequences. Definitely, as always when we pass bills like this, we love to hear from the legal community as well, because they definitely have the other side of making sure that when these laws go and get challenged in the courts or in authorities like the Commerce Commission, we always actually get the right balance in this as well.

I know that a lot of times reading the fine print is not something that you can expect all consumers to do, and so making sure that we read the expiry dates on it is not a practical thing, and I don’t think it’s fair to print it so small on a gift card. It’s eyesight problems. It’s accessibility issues as well.

So, I think this is a bill that we’re proud to support through to select committee stage, and, like I said, I hope my colleague decides to send it to our select committee. I think it’s a great select committee to work collegially on this, and I really do look forward to examining this bill further then. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I rise to support this bill. It’s a fantastic bill and well done for bringing it to the House.

Now, I have heard that men actually are a lot worse at redeeming their gift cards than women are—astounding, eh? Well, I will admit that I am one of those guys. I hope my wife isn’t watching this, because I was cleaning out my office recently and amongst a whole lot of stuff was a gift card.

Erica Stanford: For a facial?

Hon STUART NASH: R.M.Williams, actually; quite a lot of money—quite a lot of money. I looked at this and went, “Shivers, this is expired.” I thought, “What do I do?” Do I tell her, when she asks, “What did you spend that amazing amount of money on that I gave you for your birthday?” You know, that’s the thing, right? There’s a little white lie.

But what I thought I would do is give R.M.Williams a call and go, “You know what? It was the middle of COVID. I couldn’t get to you. Things were really busy. Is there any way that you can allow me to spend the money when the contract between R.M.Williams and the person who bought the gift card has expired? Come on; do the right thing.” Now, I actually didn’t end up calling them. The gift card is still sitting on my desk at home. I might even do this, especially now that I’ve read this and realise that we leave over $200 million on the table.

Now, this is a contract, right? This isn’t as if you get the card and then you spend the money; the money has already transacted. The money is already in the bank account of the retailer who has issued that card. I will also say that I found a book card from my in-laws and I also found a garden card that was given to me by someone—I don’t know who that was from—and a Mitre 10 card. I don’t know how much was on that, but it’s still there. So I am that guy. The reason why is that I am really difficult to buy for, so, to everyone who buys for me, give me cash. It’s easier than giving me a card. It means the same thing. But it is—they’re easy, right? And they are very convenient.

It is why we have these gift cards, because for some people they are really, really difficult to buy for. So what you do is you go, “I know this guy loves books. I know he loves the garden.”—well, we haven’t got that; got it a little bit wrong—“He wears R.M.Williams, but I don’t know what sort of book to buy him. Do I buy him the latest biography written by Paul Goldsmith?”—no; that will be a waste of money because it will never get read—“Do I buy him a history book? Do I buy him a book on history? Do I buy him a book on politics?” What do you get him?

In fact, it is recognition that they’ve thought about the gift but they don’t quite know you well enough to go that next step and buy the book, even though you can stick an exchange card in the middle, so you buy a gift card. It is the perfect gift, right? It’s easy. It fits in an envelope. Yeah, sure, they know how much you spent on them, but when it’s family or good friends, that’s OK—that’s OK.

In fact, my 11-year-old son went to a birthday party over the weekend—two birthday parties, actually—and the vast majority of things that these kids got were gift cards. Now, they’re normally spent within about 24 hours—I’ll be honest with you—but it is easy. Melissa, the thing about this is: for guys like me, we don’t go out there and buy things, because we sit on things, right? We don’t procrastinate; we mull over what is the best thing to do. It sits on the table there. It sits on the table there, and it’s constantly front of mind. Then when we’re going down to the bookstore, we go, “I’m going to take that card.” When you’re going to the movies and you’re a little bit short of cash: “I’ll take that movie card.” Then you turn it over and go, “I’ve been procrastinating about this for a little bit too long.” Three years, however; I would still have this.

I think it’s only fair, because there is an implied contract between the retailer or whoever issues the card, and the purchaser. I think with any implied contract there should be a definitive period of time—I buy into that—whether it’s three years, whether it’s five years or whatever; it doesn’t really matter, but the money has already exchanged hands. As a consequence of that, I think three years is enough time for this to go into the wallet or go into the console in the middle and then to be discovered again and then to be redeemed. Anything longer than three years, I get it; maybe you have lost it. I get that. I get it. Five years is perhaps a little bit too long; one year is not long enough. You’ve picked the perfect sweet point.

The fact that Consumer New Zealand calls for this, the fact that Kiwis are leaving—what is it?—$250 million - plus on the table means that there are a whole lot of people like me who find these gift cards and go, “Oh yeah, that’s right.”, then turn it over and go, “What do you mean I only had a year to spend this?” It doesn’t work. So, Melissa, I support this 100 percent. If you can make it retrospective, that would be really helpful.

Melissa Lee: You can make a submission.

Hon STUART NASH: Well, I might, as a member of the public, if it goes to select committee. But I am a big fan of this because, as a number of Labour people have talked about, it’s just about fairness, and the Labour party is the party of fairness. It’s why we support this 100 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call on the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill. Can I begin by congratulating Melissa Lee on having her bill pulled from the biscuit tin, and I look forward to seeing this bill go through the House and submissions on any particular changes that may be needed for this bill.

It’s been interesting, just during my colleague Stuart Nash’s contribution, myself and my colleague Glen Bennett have had a bit of a chat, actually, about a couple of scenarios which I’ll get to soon, which I think could also be considered for the bill.

I have a recent example in Nelson of someone purchasing a voucher at a very, very, very high amount and having a very short time frame on it and losing out. So, as you may know, many charities around the country will often have auction nights. We had one last year for the Cancer Society and very generously a travel voucher—quite a significant travel voucher—had been provided for the auction and someone bid on it and spent quite a few thousands of dollars. A bit of chatter went around the room when we were at the same auction this year when someone started bidding on the same auction prize this year, and it turned out it’s the same person because they bid on it last year and the voucher expired. So they literally spent thousands on some travel vouchers and they expired. And they were so generous that they came back for round two. But it does speak to the need for this bill, that there needs to be an element of fairness in how long those vouchers can expire.

There should be a limit at some point, although I would note if you’ve bought a voucher for $100 now, in 10, 20 years’ time it probably won’t mean so much to the retailer. I imagine if someone picks up a voucher in their office, like Mr Nash did, that might be 20 years old, it might only be a $10 voucher, so it’s not going to be as big a deal, is it? But this bill is really sensible, and Mr Bennett and I were just having a quiet conversation here—we weren’t, of course, speaking over my colleague while he was giving his speech—about what would happen, and I think this is something that would be interesting for the committee to look at, what would happen if the business changed hands. And, actually, that exact situation happened to me. A friend of mine very kindly purchased me a voucher for my birthday and it was for a beauty salon. They changed hands within about a month of purchasing the voucher, so really soon. So the voucher had a one-year expiry on it, but the business changed hands pretty much immediately after it was purchased. I’m interested about that because they were really, really good, the new business honoured the voucher, which was great, and they’ve now actually got a loyal customer out of me and I’ve been going back.

So that probably is something I think that needs to be looked at—in fairness to the new business as well, because they would need to know that there were a number of outstanding vouchers available. But you would expect, for a business like that, it should be something that gets built into their business model, an expectation. Something like a beauty salon, that is an area where people will often purchase vouchers, that if there is a change of ownership that there perhaps could be some acknowledgment of that in the bill. So I encourage the member and the committee to look at that particular scenario, because it is one that crops up.

So this is a really good bill. We do see a real anomaly in the law here, a lot of people will, in good faith, go and purchase a voucher. In my family, it’s quite common. I’m one of eight children, so it was the common Christmas Eve rush around the mall looking for gifts for each other, and often the easy gift was to get a voucher—and then sometimes we’d swap with each other if someone got a voucher they preferred to somebody else. Very common gift item in my family.

It is frustrating, though, when you’ve bought something for someone—actually, with kindness behind it and wanting to purchase something nice for somebody—and then to see it’s only got a three-month or a six-month expiry. I think we’ve probably all had that experience ourselves, where—I certainly have had the odd-voucher where I have gone to look at it and gone, “Oh three months.”, and you wouldn’t even have thought that. So I think three years seems like a good kind of fair time frame for me. I’m sure there will be submissions through the committee on that exact issue and I think it will be a really, really good bill to progress to protect our consumers and to introduce more fairness into the system. On that note, I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have to confess that I’m not one who buys gift cards, nor am I one that’s good at spending gift cards. I had to take the conversation before from Stuart Nash around teenagers, and it has become such a very popular way of teenagers—for birthdays and for Christmases—coming together to be able to afford a good present for a friend.

So I refer to my daughter, Olivia, who actually just last week said, “Mum, we’re all going in to give one of my friends for their birthday a gift from Cotton On, we’re all putting in what we can afford—it’s a gift card”. And I said “So you don’t want to go down to Cotton On and buy your friend a present?” She said no, because then they can spend it on whatever they want. I was thinking about that and thinking, well, you know, if they’re given it at 14 and they don’t spend it until they’re 17, they might have grown up a few sizes, but it’s still well worth them being able to spend it on what they wish to spend it on.

I did have a question that I hope will be clarified around those who buy gift cards but they are aligned to an actual service, such as going to a beauty salon or a spa where somebody might actually gift a massage, not actually a monetary value, but an actual massage. So what would happen there if it was actually connected to a particular service? I also think it’ll be good to hear from the retailers and those businesses that are offering gift cards, because if you have sold that service but that service is not then used or that money has not spent for three years, when it comes to actually providing that things may have changed in the business, and you may well have sold the business. So I think that those are facts that will need to be worked through in the select committee process.

One of the gift cards that I do think is one that I have—I was thinking “Have I actually purchased any gift cards?”—and the other one would be for at the supermarket. I often think that that is a very good gift to give somebody who may use it over a period of time. So that again, I think, is a good way to gift on a gift card. However, I do wonder why people don’t give them to me. Maybe it’s that they like buying me actual gifts rather than—and think about it when they do. As somebody who likes to go shopping, I do enjoy also purchasing gifts for people and seeing them wrapped up in a present. So I might, now that I see this bill coming through the House, give a little bit more thought to using a gift card, but I’d probably have to wrap it up in a big box with a big ribbon, and make it feel like I’m actually giving a gift.

I was not surprised that there was nearly $254 million worth of gift cards that are not used, a year, which I thought “Wow that’s significant, isn’t it?” If that’s sitting on somebody’s businesses’ books, and they still have to get those purchases or services out the door. I do wonder about the deadline. I think that sometimes we need deadlines to get things done, and to spend, and get the service under way. So on that, I wonder whether three years will be what comes back from retailers, or, yes we’ve seen that that’s what Australia does.

But I commend the member for—congratulate the member for having it pulled from the biscuit tin, and, like the rest of my colleagues over here, we are supporting the bill, and it’s good to be speaking positively on something. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I think there is a saying along the lines of “three times the charm”. This is my third member’s bill that has actually been drawn, and I’m so pleased that this will finally get to select committee and have the public submit on it.

I’d like to thank all of the members who have actually spoken for their considerate speeches and giving out anecdotes and examples of their personal experience, which is actually really wonderful. In terms of the Hon Stuart Nash, who actually talked about how he mulled over too long to find at least three gift cards in his office desk. I just say maybe he shouldn’t have mulled over it too long, but most of us tend to do that. When we get a gift card, we actually put it away, because it is valuable and is something that someone has considered to give us, a meaningful thing. They couldn’t quite figure out what exactly to get for us, so we actually get the gift, and we think about it, and you forget about it. It’s in the wallet, or it’s in the back drawer, or it’s in the desk drawer, and sometimes you forget.

In an example that I gave earlier, there was a family member who had actually received a gift card from a store, and the family member had since died, and the store closed. That actually means that the gift card has since expired, and it has been many years since that gift card has expired.

To the question of Anna Lorck, who wanted to know if vouchers for services were what we are actually talking about: in the actual bill at clause 24A(4) and (5), it says, “gift card means a card or voucher (in hard copy or electronic form) that is redeemable for goods or services, but does not include—(a) a card supplied in substitution for goods returned to the supplier of the goods; or (b) a prepaid card or voucher redeemable for phone credit, internet access, or other similar services; or (c) a debit card, credit card, prepaid travel card, or any similar products supplied by a financial institution; or (d) a card or voucher supplied as part of a customer loyalty programme. (5) This section only applies to a gift card sold after the commencement of this section.”—of the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill.

Consumer organisations have actually been very, very active in wanting to protect our consumer rights, and having more than $267 million worth of gift cards not being used is completely unfair, when the businesses have in fact received the money, and the purchaser or the giftee of the gift cards cannot actually use it because of the expiry date.

I look forward to the select committee process, where I will have an opportunity to listen to all of the submissions. Thank you to everyone for sending this to a select committee. I commend the bill to the House.

Bill read a first time.

The question is, That the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill be considered by the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee.

Congratulations to the member.