A proposal that would see mandatory expiry terms set on gift cards in NSW is developing into a public fight between the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) executive director Russell Zimmerman and Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean.
The legislation, which is currently being drafted, would require retailers selling gift cards in NSW to comply with a three-year minimum expiry date and is designed to tackle consumers not redeeming card value.
However, the ARA has slammed the move as unnecessary, calling for the proposal to be dumped in favour of a non-binding code of conduct.
Inside Retail understands that a meeting between Zimmerman and Kean late last month before the proposal was officially announced reached a crossroads over the code, with the Minister expressing doubts about the fact that a code had not yet been formulated only a week before he planned to announce the reforms.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published this morning Kean called on Zimmerman to “come clean” about what companies the ARA represents, labelling him a “lobbyist” in an extraordinary attack.
Zimmerman said he declined to provide the minister with a list of the ARA’s membership at their meeting in late September.
“The Minister and his office have not been forthcoming and easy to deal with on this issue,” he said.
Zimmerman argued that the amount of notice provided to the ARA on consultation meetings in the lead up to the public announcement of the proposal, which he said was between 6-7 days, was insufficient.
The Minister has expressed similar concerns over notice however, with a spokesperson having said that the first time Kean was notified of the code of conduct proposal was at his last meeting with Zimmerman on September 28.
Industry associations, including the Australian Sporting Goods Association and the NSW Business Chamber have expressed concerns over the proposal itself, particularly the regulatory inconsistency the reform would create between states.
Additional concern has been raised over the impact the reforms would have on internet retailers, which do not have physical stores in NSW, and small businesses that issue handwritten vouchers.
The Minister has indicated that there will be provisions in the reforms that “will make it easy for retailers to comply”, but has not yet provided any details as to how that would work.
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