Council needed to aid consumers

Papua New Guinea needs a consumer council to help protect families from unfair prices, price increases and poor quality products, says shadow treasurer and finance minister Ian Ling-Stuckey.
He said although the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission existed, it was a government body.
He said there was a need for a lobby group focused on the interests of consumers. “In the fierce competition of Waigani politics, there are many groups and individuals that will speak out in the interests of resource companies or the local manufacturing industry or formal sector employees,” Ling-Stuckey said.
“However, there is no group representing the special interests of consumers.
“We need a stronger consumer voice in Waigani, backed with good research and lobbying skills to help protect the people of Papua New Guinea from unbalanced price increases such as the massive and unfair tariff increases imposed in recent budgets.
“A consumer council could also focus on the quality of goods and services, ensuring both imported as well as local goods are safe and have adequate labelling in English.”
Ling-Stuckey said he was putting forward the idea of a PNG consumer council to put the voice of PNG families back into Waigani politics.
“The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission also needs to be strengthened,” he said.
“PNG needs this new consumer voice to balance out the voice of other interests such as the manufacturing sector.”
Ling-Stuckey has left it to the PNG people to decide who is telling the truth on items such as whether the 25 per cent tax tariff increase applied on UHT milk.
“I provided evidence that even the government’s own Independent Consumer and Competition Commission called for removal of all tariffs on flour imports as recently as 2015,” he said.
“Instead the Government has increased the tariff to 25 per cent,” he said.