Ed Husic led the campaign and from the details of the inquiry, the findings and recommendations have some weight to them. Source: Supplied
AFTER a year-long inquiry, the Australian Government’s report into IT pricing has finally been released.
For those who don’t remember, then Labor MP Ed Husic (who is now the Broadband and Communications Minister, replacing Stephen Conroy), led a campaign to force the government to investigate why Australians were paying so much more for electronic goods than other countries.
In some cases it was found that Australians could fly to the US, buy the product there and fly home and still pay less than what you would pay locally.
After tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft and Adobe showed reluctance to testify before the federal inquiry, the federal government took a rare step and subpoenaed the companies, forcing them to testify before the commission.
Today the government released its findings and you may be relieved to learn you are not imagining things, you are paying more – way more – than customers in the US and the UK for the same products.
The results are in:
The inquiry compared more than 150 products and found that Australians paid up to 50 per cent more than customers in other countries.
• Specifically, Australians pay an average of 66 per cent more for Microsoft products and 42 per cent more for Adobe products.
• Australians pay 84 per cent more on games, 52 per cent more on music, 46 per cent more than the US on computer hardware and 16 per cent more on ebooks.
• Based on the evidence the committee received over the last year it concluded that in many cases the price difference for IT products cannot be explained by the cost of doing business, particularly as it relates to digital downloads.
So what does the government plan to do about it?
Acknowledging that companies have the right to decide the pricing of their own products, the committee made a number of recommendations to address the price of goods in Australia.
• It recommended that the Australian Bureau of Statistics develop a comprehensive program to monitor and report on “the price of IT products, hardware and software, both domestically and overseas, as well as the size and volume of the online retail market”.
• The committee recommended forming a partnership with Australian universities to study the needs and costs they face in order to provide clearer financial parameters for educational institutions.
• It also wants the government to consider a federally-mandated IT procurement policy with relevant stakeholder groups.
• It wants the import restrictions in the Copyright Act, 1968 removed and add a clause to allow consumers to circumvent geoblocking to ensure they’re getting the best price. It also wants to teach Australian consumers how to get around geoblocking and provide more access to technologies that allow them to do so. Needless to say they will also need educating on how far Australian Consumer Law allows them to go on this.
• If companies do not agree to lift geoblocking, or to give consumers the tools they need to circumvent it, the committee recommended enacting a ban on geoblocking “as an option of last resort”. It also recommends voiding any law which seeks to enforce geoblocking.
• The committee also wants a “right of resale” law to be created in relation to digitally distributed content. This is an interesting possibility which might allow Australians to resell their old music and ebooks for the first time, among other things.
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Ban on geoblocking to get the "best price"
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