Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2011

I rise to speak on the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2011. This bill seeks to amend the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 passed by the previous government with the coalition's support. I am glad to hear that the opposition is supporting this bill. It is another example of this government getting on and ensuring that it makes it easier for businesses to do business here in Victoria.

I would like to cover off on three points in my contribution supporting this legislation tonight. The first point is a recognition of how this legislation will support small businesses in reducing their costs and making it safer for them to transact online. The second point is the importance of updating our legislative framework with technology, the emergence of new technology and the constant changing in our world through future trends when it comes to utilising that technology. The third point I would like to raise is in regard to uniformity across the states to ensure that we are keeping up and transacting in a sphere common to all states and which allows us to transact internationally.

I will begin by talking about the details of this bill. Firstly, the bill enhances the legal certainty and commercial predictability of international electronic transactions by clarifying uncertainties and using electronic communications in the formation and performance of contracts.

This legislation takes the traditional contract and ensures that it keeps up with the emergence and utilisation of technology. Secondly, the bill ensures that the contract can still be legally effective despite being formed by automated messages derived from online transactions. Thirdly, the bill refines default rules for determining whether the method for electronic signatures is reliable. Electronic signatures are now something that are used quite commonly in our world. Who would have thought some years ago that we would ever have contemplated having electronic signatures and be transacting in this way? Electronic signatures are now part of doing business; they are part of our parliamentary lives. This is an important part of this legislative change.

The next part provides default rules to ascertain the place of business and the parties in the transaction, taking into account modern business practice such as the use of automated message systems which will assist parties to determine the jurisdiction in which the contract was formed. This is an important change. It means that we will know where the transaction takes place in a global world. Online transactions can take place in many shapes and forms and it is important when we and our kids are transacting to know where those transactions first took place. If you extend that to warranties, call-backs and other elements of trade, place of purchase is important.

The last part introduces a new section in the current act to ensure that the numbering of the Victorian act is consistent with equivalent legislation in other jurisdictions. We now operate in a business environment that is not just on a national but an international scale. Therefore it is important to be consistent across the board as to where we transact.

I want to talk a little bit about the changing world in which we live and the importance of ensuring that Victoria keeps up with those changes. Who would have thought that we would have the technology that we now have? I see a number of members in the chamber using iPads, iPhones and BlackBerrys. These are now seen as basic tools.

I can recall starting out in a business and conducting a transaction in an export-import situation using a telex machine. It used to be a week before confirmation of payment was received and you would even contemplate shipping goods. The lead time to ship goods both interstate and overseas would be some 4 to 6 weeks before the goods even left your warehouse. That is all gone. Now you can conduct a transaction using the likes of eBay where you can pay instantly and receive your goods virtually overnight from anywhere around the world. For retailers and consumers it is a different environment that provides a whole lot of opportunities. When Victorian businesses find it tough -- and it is a difficult business environment out there, as we know and appreciate -- we need to ensure that all those opportunities are available to them. It would be a shame if Victoria lagged behind other jurisdictions in any way, shape or form and that we were not able to afford our retailers the ability to transact in a global environment utilising platforms such as eBay and other mediums.

That is why it is important that we have legislation such as this that reduces the costs of small business. Just a few years ago, at the end of each day -- and certainly there are a number of retailers that still do this -- retailers would go in with lots of coin to the bank, drop it on the desk, have it counted and then go through the traditional banking process and some of the other things that you did within a branch. A lot of those things can now be done by a bank teller machine or online. It is incredible to think that transactions can be done even on a smart phone.

One of the businesses I was involved in prior to entering Parliament was called Futurevation. We used to try out and showcase new technologies. We utilised venues such as the Herald Sun Home Show and the small business expo to show people what was available and possible. One of the things we showcased last year was a technology that enabled you to scan an item using your phone. You could literally go up to a fashion outlet, stand in front of a particular item, scan that item using your phone and an image of you wearing the item would then appear on your phone. You could then size it up and see what it looked like before even making that purchase.

We have some fashion extraordinaires here in the house, so imagine what they could do or what might be possible by using technology to take it the next step further and be able to use the sorts of things we are talking about today to make a purchase, all in the comfort of one's own home. They could receive the goods shipped to their door, with the money transacted out of their account, but most importantly it would be done securely to ensure that the money they had paid was the right money and that they were not short-changed. It is quite ironic, because a couple of years back probably the biggest hurdle to e-commerce was the fact that it was not secure. A lot of people would not provide credit card details online because they feared it was not secure.

What a different world we now live in -- one in which people are concerned about using credit cards in teller machines because of skimming and they are sensitive about handing over their credit card in retail outlets. Many people would probably now think that in some instances online transactions are safer than the retail transactions. We now have the PayWay situation whereby you do not even have to take the credit card out of your pocket; it is all done on a nod, and you walk out with the goods in your hand.

The world has certainly changed in comparison to where we were a few years ago. It continues to evolve. This particular legislation keeps up with the emerging changes and it keeps up with emerging technologies. The future is an exciting time. It is exciting because of the fact that we are constantly changing and evolving. We can now buy an iPad that is paper thin but has four times the storage it did four or five years ago -- and at a quarter of the price. Certainly things are evolving and changing.

This bill goes a long way towards keeping up with those technological changes, and it ensures that we are remaining current. It ensures that e-commerce is safe and that people feel safe using e-commerce, but most importantly it ensures that businesses remain competitive and that we are able to compete on a global scale. On that note, I commend the bill to the house.