1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge nine after fought here on News Talk semb 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: it could soon be in cheery news. It could soon 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: be cheaper and easier to repair your faulty or broken goods. 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:11,959 Speaker 1: That's if an amendment to the Consumer Guarantees and Act 5 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: becomes law. The Right to Repair Amendment Bill has its 6 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: first reading in Parliament today and would require manufacturers to 7 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: make repair parts and information more available to consumers. Dr 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: Paul Smith is from the Right to Repair alto a 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: coalition and he's with me this afternoon. Paul good A. 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 2: Good good day, Ryan. How are you doing? Yeah? 11 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,959 Speaker 1: Good, thank you. What's the current loophole that means manufacturers 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: don't have to repair their products here? 13 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Now that's a great one. If I paraphrase it, 14 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 2: it is you have to provide repair facilities and repair 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 2: tools and parts unless you say you don't. And basically 16 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 2: that means you should tell consumers up to runt that 17 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 2: repair for a particular product is not available. But in 18 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 2: practice that means it can be buried away on a 19 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 2: website somewhere in some terms and conditions, or as we 20 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 2: find in practice, actually it's never really policed, so a 21 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 2: lot of them just don't bother. 22 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: Aren't things so cheap in techy these days anyway that 23 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: you I mean, you wouldn't want to repair them. It's 24 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: so much cheaper to just buy a new thing. 25 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's one of the problems that we're trying 26 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 2: to fix with this. Partly what we've found is a 27 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 2: lot of people want to repair, but they struggle because 28 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 2: repair is just so difficult and so expensive. And it's 29 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 2: got to the point where, yeah, buying something new in 30 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 2: a lot of cases is cheaper than even getting somebody 31 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 2: to look at the product to assess whether it's repaarable. 32 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: And that's partly because products aren't repaarable at the moment, 33 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 2: a lot of them, and they've been designed to make 34 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 2: it quite difficult to repair, to force everybody into buy 35 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 2: a new stuff. 36 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's because they're cheaply made. Because what you're 37 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: proposing would make stuff more expensive, wouldn't that, Because if 38 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: it was able to be repaired, it would be more 39 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: costly to make. Plus you have to factor in the 40 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: cost of repairs. Don't we just want cheaper stuff. 41 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 2: Well, one of the problems we've got is one of 42 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,639 Speaker 2: the things that won't make it more expensive is we've 43 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 2: had this Great Consumer Guarantees Act since nineteen ninety three, 44 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 2: and as part of that, manufacturers have to support their 45 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 2: products beyond their nominal short usually one year warranty. 46 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: No no, I get that, but the fact that they 47 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: have to factor in the cost of repairing stuff would 48 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: make the initial upfront cost more expensive. 49 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 2: A lot of the things that we're talking about that 50 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 2: being repairable are not changes to the product themselves, and 51 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 2: that's sort of like a real long term game is 52 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 2: to try and make things more repearable in the first place. 53 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 2: But it's things like what happens when you break the 54 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 2: jug of your blender and you can't get that jug 55 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 2: and that's not something that you need to change the 56 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 2: product for. That's just making that part available for you, 57 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: or seals on a coffee mash, something like that. 58 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: Okay, interesting, I would love to know what people think 59 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: about this one. Dr Paul Smith, thank you very much 60 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: for your time. Great to have you on the show. 61 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: The Doctor Paul Smith is from the Right to Repair 62 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: out Here Coalition. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, 63 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, 64 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.