- McGowan Government progressing with anti-ticket scalping laws
- New laws to be introduced despite the opposition to new regulations from previous Liberal National Government
Earlier this week on 6PR radio, Opposition Leader Mike Nahan claimed the McGowan Government had no solution to stop ticket scalping in our State.
Not only is this not true, the McGowan Government is progressing well with legislation to target ticket scalping which the former government failed to do.
The previous Liberal National Government said new legislation was not necessary following a Consumer Protection report on the unauthorised resale of tickets in December 2016.
'The report concluded that while ticket scalping leads to consumer dissatisfaction and a perception of unfairness, the cost of regulating ticket on-selling would outweigh the benefits. Consumers should only purchase tickets from an authorised agency and if they do not wish to pay inflated prices for scalped tickets then they shouldn't.'
Comments from former Commerce Minister Michael Mischin published in The Sunday Times on January 1, 2017.
As stated by Commerce and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston:
"We're preparing new legislation to target ticket scalpers and I look forward to making an announcement in the coming months.
"It's disappointing the former government failed to do anything about this issue in the eight-and-a-half years they were in office, they also failed to support our own legislation in 2015."
As stated by Sport and Recreation Minister Mick Murray:
"I'd like to remind Western Australians that the safest way to purchase tickets is to buy directly from authorised primary sellers.
"Online resellers often engage in deceptive tactics, including making their websites appear official and paying to appear at the top in search engine results. The public should always take a minute to seek to understand exactly who they are purchasing their ticket from."
