State Government & ACCC gives industry better bill of health
1-Feb-2005
The chairman of the ACCC, Graeme Samuel, said yesterday that the ACCC has taken the real estate industry "off the critical list of bad health", according to a report by Robert Harley on page 13 of yesterday’s Australian Financial Review. And on the anniversary today of the new state auction laws coming into effect, the State Government has hailed the laws a success and said only one dummy biudder was prosecuted over the past year (a member of the public not an estate agent) and only a few complaints had been made, reports Geraldine Mitchell on page 12 of today's Herald Sun. In September 2003, Mr Samuel announced that the ACCC would target misleading and deceptive conduct in the property industry. In July last year at the REIV’s Annual President’s Dinner, he said "there is still a long way to go before the industry achieves best practice for its clients". Mr Samuel now says "I think it (the industry) has come a long way", and working with the state consumer bodies and the ACCC had "significantly changed its conduct". These comments are largely a result of The REIV's initiatives of a major education campaign for members on the new auction legislation in 2003/04 and our introduction of compulsory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training for members from July last year. Members are encouraged to continue to apply the highest professional and ethical practice standards at all times.
