The Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee has reported back on Marama Davidson's Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill, recommending by majority that it not be passed. The bill would be the first real advance in consumer rights in decades, creating enforceable rights to have goods repaired rather than replaced, and to parts and repair information to enable people to do it themselves (or get a qualified expert to do it for them). It would help undermine monopolies and their strategy of planned obsolescence, letting us actually use the stuff we buy. The bill is backed by ConsumerNZ and overwhelmingly popular with the public: 95% of 1250 submissions supported it, with only 2% opposed.
But the government sided with the 2%, as usual. No, they didn't say why. But the Labour-Green minority report says that the government majority strung them along, working on amendments in apparent good faith, before bloc voting to reject everything at the last minute. And they note how this undermines the collaborative nature of select committee work. I wonder if there will be consequences for that?
Presumably the National, ACT, and NZ First stooges on the committee got their marching orders from higher up to oppose the bill. And presumably they'll vote it down in the face of that overwhelming public support, tarring themselves as the regime for the 2%, a government of causes with no supporters. And yet, they're not even united on it themselves - a National MP has their own member's bill in the ballot on a right to repair for motor vehicles.
Either way, I don't see this issue going away. And if National votes it down, Davidson should take what has been learned from the committee process, strengthen it (including by adding provisions to prevent companies using intellectual property and technological protection measures to prevent repairs), and then get the next government to introduce it as government legislation.
