http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/frank-zumbo/ Frank Zumbo is an Associate Professor within the School of Business Law and Taxation at the University of New South Wales. Frank has been a tireless consumer advocate and is one of Australia’s leading commentators on competition, consumer and franchising law. During the past 20 years Frank has been at the forefront of business law reform. This has included drafting the “Birdsville Amendment” to effectively outlaw predatory pricing, as well as drafting the proposed “Blacktown Amendment” requiring that companies charge the same low price for the same product in all their retail outlets in the same area.  His research and professional activities are focused on competition and consumer law; franchising and Business Ethics. He has been closely involved in promoting effective laws against unethical corporate behaviour and in ensuring that Australia has the best possible competition and consumer laws. Frank has served in an expert capacity on Federal and State Government Advisory Committees and is a longstanding adviser to Governments, Members of Parliament, and industry associations on business law and policy issues en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/councils-have-to-put-the-strip-back-into-shopping/ Have you ever been to Balmain in the inner city of Sydney? Or have you been down a suburban shopping strip in your capital city? If you have you will know that something has changed over the years. Even when walking down the shopping strip in your local town centre you are bound to have seen some changes. More often than not you will find that places like Balmain or your own local town centre are not as vibrant as they used to be. There may be more vacant shops or the shops may be looking tired or run down which all makes the shopping strip less appealing. Some town centres may even be attracting gangs of youths or the graffiti artists which may all detract from the shopping strip. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/councils-have-to-put-the-strip-back-into-shopping/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/councils-have-to-put-the-strip-back-into-shopping/#item8564 Tue, 22 May 2012 19:35:04 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Petrol-price-wars-rage-on-with-no-end-in-sight/ So the ACCC announced last week an inquiry into the sharing of petrol pricing information by the oil companies, and Coles and Woolworths. Are we to be excited? Well, the motoring bodies came out and welcomed the announcement. A good thing you might say. The only problem is that their reaction is predictable. Sadly, the work of the motoring bodies in exposing the petrol industry games has been very patchy, which has let their members down very badly. Some motoring bodies are consistently very good in going after the petrol industry games while others have been weak preferring to make motherhood statements rather than getting to the heart of the issue. The problem with the motoring bodies is quite simply that some of them are passionate advocates for motorists while others act more like those politicians who try to be everyone’s friend. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Petrol-price-wars-rage-on-with-no-end-in-sight/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Petrol-price-wars-rage-on-with-no-end-in-sight/#item8441 Tue, 08 May 2012 19:35:12 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cost-of-australian-justice-spirals-out-of-control/ Have you ever been to a lawyer? Have you ever been a party to a Court case? If you have or know someone who has, then you will know how expensive lawyers and going to court can be. Yes, lawyers have an important role to play in providing legal advice when needed, but the cost of that legal advice keeps going up. It’s a bit like the big banks constantly bothering us with their pleas of how their cost of funding is going up and how they need to keep inflating their interest rates on loans and credit cards. And, of course, the lawyers will also tell us how tough things are for them and, surprise, surprise, how they need to raise their legal fees to cope with their increasing costs. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cost-of-australian-justice-spirals-out-of-control/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cost-of-australian-justice-spirals-out-of-control/#item8323 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:45:17 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-sydney-pollies-must-go-west-to-win-the-rest/ There’s no doubt that tackling the escalating cost of living is central to keeping the all-important voters of Western Sydney happy. Sydney is one of the greatest cities in the world and that privilege shouldn’t come with an expensive price tag, especially for Western Sydney. We need to make Sydney a place that’s once again affordable for all Sydneysiders. That’s the challenge for both the State and Federal Government. Any failure in this regard may spell disaster at election time for the Government of the day. After years of neglect and poor planning decisions it’s clear that Sydney has lost some of its gloss and Sydney voters don’t like that. Sydney has become just too expensive for all those struggling Aussie families out there in voterland. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-sydney-pollies-must-go-west-to-win-the-rest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-sydney-pollies-must-go-west-to-win-the-rest/#item8200 Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:35:38 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-price-of-black-gold-is-white-hot-in-the-red-heart/ Have you ever been to Alice Springs? Well, if you have you will know that the Alice is the heart of Australia in more ways than one. If you haven’t, then you should join the thousands of overseas visitors who regularly flock to the Alice. You will be in awe of many things in the Alice, especially when you see how a community in the middle of Australia can, in so many ways, be a microcosm of our country. The Alice has all the great personalities you get in the big cities. There are the talk show presenters at Radio 8HA like Adrian Renzi, or “Renz” to his friends, who are great at expressing the public indignation on issues of importance to the local community. There is, of course, the local ABC Radio Station where presenters like Breakfast Show host, Stewart Brash, start the locals thinking about the day’s big issues. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-price-of-black-gold-is-white-hot-in-the-red-heart/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-price-of-black-gold-is-white-hot-in-the-red-heart/#item8108 Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:35:29 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-lazy-government-body-that-needs-to-get-moving/ Have you ever dealt with the ACCC? Have you ever had an issue that you thought the ACCC should be looking at only to find that the ACCC declined to look at it or seemed to take forever to investigate? Just ask any supplier or farmer who has had an issue or concern with the major supermarket chains. For well over a year the ACCC has been taking the public position that there’s no evidence to justify an investigation into the alleged practices of the major supermarket chains. Then just recently the ACCC starts actively asking suppliers to come forward with their concerns. Now there are a few issues that need to be immediately clarified. First and most importantly the ACCC doesn’t need to wait for suppliers, consumers or anyone else to come forward with a complaint in order for the ACCC to investigate. Where the ACCC suspects a possible breach of our competition and consumer laws it can investigate any matter within its jurisdiction and has the power to collect information as part of any investigation. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-lazy-government-body-that-needs-to-get-moving/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-lazy-government-body-that-needs-to-get-moving/#item7998 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:35:23 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/small-business-needs-a-heavyweight-in-cabinet-julia/ With the ALP’s leadership tussle over for now, it’s time for the Federal Government to get back to the much needed policy work on competition, small business and consumer law issues. These issues are fundamental to the ALP’s re-election hopes as the sky-rocketing cost of living will make struggling Aussie families think twice at election time. Those Aussie families are sick and tired of the gimmicks or, even worse, the lack of policy direction from federal Labor. Take, for example, small business concerns about the growing market and contractual power of larger businesses. And what about the concerns increasingly expressed by farmers about their dealings with food processors and the major supermarket chains? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/small-business-needs-a-heavyweight-in-cabinet-julia/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/small-business-needs-a-heavyweight-in-cabinet-julia/#item7882 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:40:30 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Spank-the-banks-wayne/ Poor old Wayne Swan! He may be the world’s best treasurer but he can’t get the big banks to be nice to consumers. It’s a bit like the world’s best dad asking a family member to behave or be nice to the other members of the household. And that’s the point. We have four big banks that, despite being valued members of society or the Australian “family,” are being self-centred and not very nice to consumers or the Australian household.  We then have a federal Treasurer and PM who are supposed to be guardians of the Australian household or economy being ignored by the big banks. And that’s after the federal Treasurer has been so nice to the big banks. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Spank-the-banks-wayne/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Spank-the-banks-wayne/#item7767 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:00:10 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/ Did you feel ripped off this holiday season when you parked your car in the city, at a shopping centre or at the airport when picking up or dropping off loved ones? If paying inflated petrol prices wasn’t enough, motorists are now also being hit with inflated parking rates when they go shopping or to the airport. Then, of course, there are the CBD parking stations that cost an arm and a leg. It’s these CBD parking stations that consistently cost motorists dearly as the fees at the CBD parking stations start climbing the moment that boom gate rises to let you in. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/save-up-your-pocket-money-if-you-wanna-park-in-CBD/#item7649 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:45:16 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-an-inquiry-into-this-bunch-of-bankers/ Poor old bankers. They keep telling us how tough it is for them with their funding costs expected to go up and how they will need to keep interest rates inflated. And if the crying poor line isn’t enough the banks are quick to tell us that we are “picking on them” if we have a debate about how poorly they behave especially when the RBA changes the official interest rate. Perhaps the “we’re doing it tough” line would carry some weight if the big banks didn’t show record profits year after year and if the banks’ CEOs weren’t getting such big pay packets year after year. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-an-inquiry-into-this-bunch-of-bankers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-an-inquiry-into-this-bunch-of-bankers/#item7543 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:45:34 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch